Surveys indicate people favor autonomous cars that will sacrifice their passenger for pedestrians… but less so if they are the passenger in question, and even less if it's a loved one.
People want other people’s self-driving cars to keep pedestrians safe
The new NIMBY: Should self-driving cars sacrifice a few if it will save more?
Should self-driving cars sacrifice a few if it will save more?
Yes, but that kind of cold-blooded risk-benefit analysis won't fly with the public or politicians, even if it would ultimately save many more lives.
We're a culture that demands absolute safety even when it is simply not achievable. We're also largely innumerate and incapable of handling statistics, which makes dealing with these kinds of issues exceptionally difficult.
This seems unrealistic to me. Maybe I'm missing something here but I don't see how any first, second, or third generation auto drive cars can be realistically programmed this way. Essentially these cars are programmed to replace human function.
Perhaps a survey question should be, would you the driver sacrifice yourself? So rare has to 1) be the situation 2) be the ability to react within a situation to make such a choice.
+Jon Weber It is interesting that this is calling on AI to be more explicit in its ethical rules and reactions than humans are. Self-preservation is legally and socially accepted in most cases; this situation is asking us to reevaluate that as well.
+Dave Hill well it was weird because the article seemed to be calling for AI for this purpose yet didn't seem to realize it. In reality I dont think you need to build in these items thought if 90% + of cars on the road are autonomous. The self driving cars would almost never put the car in a place where a large chunk of humans would be in danger.
+Jon Weber While I expect that Excellently Driving vehicles will have to deal with fewer ethical dilemmas, the issue at that point is less the Al's failure than the failure of meatforms to behave rationally.
I encounter four-wheeled meatsack irrationality every damned day of the week. My commute is like a mobile minefield.
+James Karaganis our commutes are very different. My meatsack irrationality comes in the form of doing something dumb behind the wheel. Like reading a book, cellphone, or just not thinking clearly.