Watch Bose's incredible electromagnetic car suspension system in action

Interestingly, I remember this exact scenario was a noted problem for some sort of computer-controlled shock absorbers that I saw on the "Beyond 2000" TV show in the mid-90s. In many scenarios, the shock absorbers could detect bumps and holes in the road and compensate perfectly, resulting in a ride that was smooth as glass. But they still hadn't figured out how to differentiate between a crumpled paper bag and a rock, or a pothole filled with water vs a smooth surface. Otherwise, it was really impressive. Found it on YouTube: [this video] I feel like Level 4 or 5 Autonomous Driving will be the same -- there are just some problems that will never be solved well enough to make it work acceptably.

Funny you should mention GM, they had: [link] Bosch had electromagnetic car suspensions figured out 20 years ago: [this video] The car industry is a perfect example of "worst is better". The point about the cheap golf-kart car from China is about how little in terms of material costs actually goes into it. It is $5,000 shipped. In actuality it is about $2000 in parts. The skateboard platform I linked to is already developed, they are supposedly going public this year, not just a concept. If they can get them to pack flat (or flat-ish), they can ship quite a lot of them around the world for peanuts. Add whatever cab, wheels and branding you want to finish it off. All of this stuff is about to become a commodity. The most, and basically only, expensive part is the battery.