Autonomous driving and ethics

[Aldo]

Interesting dilemma- who do you decide to kill?
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/5...ammed-to-kill/

[brookedale091462]

Why the hell was this guy, or any autopilot driver, choose to turn on autopilot when he is behind the wheel?!?
Was he tired-pull off at a rest stop
Taking a call?-Pull off at a rest stop!
Need to eat? Pull off at a rest stop.
If you are an intellectual don't forget to use your brain.

Interesting dilemma- who do you decide to kill?
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/5...ammed-to-kill/

[RSTarga]

He was apparently watching a movie on the console screen.
I've had glitches on just about every electronic item I own, so, to me, it is incomprehensible that someone would put their life in the hands of a beta product.
I have seen several truly state of the art autonomous vehicles, these are so loaded with sensors, cameras, sonars, that they are impractical for street use at this point.
Of course I am someone who never even uses cruise control.

[beh911]

I have a certain two way stop across a busy two laner near me that I plan to direct the first person who shows me their new autonomous car...

So many use cases that tech just will not be able to handle well.

Weather being toward top of list.

[Aldo]

The feasibility of autonomous driving is less interesting to me than the ethical quandaries, thus my post and link.
So, what does the software do in a crash scenario? Hit the semi rig, the motorcycle or the crowd of pedestrians?
I can see this technology getting stopped in its tracks for this sort liability issue.

[beh911]

That's my point. Weather and ethics are the same to the software.

There is no way a computer in this application can make the determination that an old lady with a cane on one side of the road is a better or worse place to crash than the group of young STEM students at the bus stop on the other. I'd argue that a human would have a tough time making that same "ethical" decision as well.

Eventually we will have to put the devices down to drive, or else choose to live in places where public transportation can accommodate a larger portion of the transportation needs of a growing population.

It should be noted that many studies show millennials and younger don't like to drive, view cars as more of an appliance, when compared to older generations. They also like to live closer to city centers than their parents do or did.

I'm not up for citing the studies as I am not preparing a doctoral thesis, for anyone ready to pounce on the above statement. I'm also going by personal experience with younger people as well. Call them distracted and uninterested, and probably ready for the self driving car so they don't have to quit texting or posting selfies.

Think of all that R&D treasure being spent on autonomous personal transport that could be used to solve more vexing problems in our world...

[CurtEgerer]

I think the more practical problem is the inability of an autonomous car to 'break the law'. What if you are entering a busy Interstate highway and need to quickly accelerate above the 55MPH limit to safely merge? The auto-car will likely come to a stop until it can safely merge without exceeding the speed limit. What if you need to pass on a double-yellow 2-lane road to get around a slow moving farm tractor? The auto-car will simply stay behind it at 3MPH until that passing lane comes up 5 miles down the road. Auto-cars have been described as driving like a 90-year old lady on the way to church .... unaware of the trail of carnage behind her. That said, I think they will do a better job at driving than at least 1/2 of the drivers on the road today.

[beh911]

Good example. With passengers (driver too?) heads down on their gadgets, probably not too concerned about the tractor as they are "connected" to whatever task they are doing

[beh911]

Some autonomous decisions of interest, some ethical, some practical, some both:

1. Need to pull over immediately, someone in the car is ill/injured
2. Car calculates it will save 2 minutes if it “Wazes” its way through small side streets to get to its destination. But doing so takes it by playgrounds, schools, etc, where chances of encountering the errant kid on a bike or chasing a ball into the middle of the street are high. Does it know to “be on its toes”? Is the estimated 2 minutes in time savings worth the risk of having a horrible situation develop with a child? What if the savings were 5 minutes, then is it worth it?
3. Human prefers gas station x over y but x is two more exits. Autonomous car insists it knows best, chooses y because it is closer and doesn’t care that Shell at .05/cheaper a gallon is just a couple miles further and is next door to a sandwich shop.
4. Weather - myriad corner/forward/reverse/side sensors/cameras ice over in the middle of slushy freezing drive in winter. Car can’t “see” anymore. What does it do
5. Need to drive on the median to avoid stalled car. Police officer directing traffic via hand
6. Ominous clouds on horizon/storm just ahead but dry and clear right around car. Human slows a bit, flips on lights in anticipation. Autonomous car would most likely drive at same pace until conditions change suddenly, then drastically change speed, then flip on lights, etc, due to lack of forethought/reasoning.
7. One headlight is out. Potential citation in some jurisdictions. Does car “not move” until light is fixed or does it drive to its preferred repair shop immediately. Does it even care
8. Find closest spot to store x in a strip mall vs. drive to end of a parking row and just park already. How does it know? Can it hear the screaming kids and the stress of the parents who just want to get out or does it wait for last programmed (wait to park as close as possible) preference. Passenger preference changes to parking distance due to crutches… car adjusts how?
9. Traffic light is out
10. Stripes/lane dividers aren’t clearly marked
11. Parking at a fairgrounds/concert/grassy field for an event with humans directing traffic (think the lots at Laguna Seca)
12. Software bug/stack overflow/hack/blue screen at 75MPH… Now what

No amount of programming/AI can solve most of these. Passengers are checked out too, remember... devices

[jos.hall]

People looking at their gadgets are the least of the worries....