Self driving cars may well be technogically possible but are humans ready to deal with them. What will be the headlines when the first fatality happens. Even though humans kill humans with cars every day.
I remember reading an interesting article about the "split second" decisions that autonomous cars need to make on our behalf. Some of the more interesting questions were...
You are driving along a one-way road. There is a sheer drop to your right and a solid wall to your left. As you round a bend, there are four children in front of you. There is no possibility of stopping. Do you:
Brake hard, but allow the car to hit the children?
Drive the car off the cliff to the right?
The follow-up question was ... What if, instead of children, it was an armed man who appears to want to car-jack you?
If you were the programmer, what would you tell the code to do?
The answer to this question comes from denying the assumptions.
If you are driving on a one-way road next to a cliff. Then visibility is X feet.
If you cannot stop in X feet, you are going to fast, slow down.
This continues until you are safe, or you have stopped.
And the answer, if you include "all of a sudden" into the scenario is to brake as hard as you can. It is the least damaging thing you can do. The other option is to turn the car into a known deathtrap. In case of emergency, the passengers will be terminated.
Turning the car into a known deathtrap for it's owners on emergency seems like a good way to turn people away who would want to buy these cars. I think the car should kill the other people, and not it's master :) How else will the loan ever be paid off then for the car? lol. Breaking as fast as it can sounds like the best option, but I think this would be a rare edge case to program for.
These are some deep and very interesting questions!
It's incredibly hard to answer those.
This is something you don't think about, but of course the programmers have to deal with those kind of questions too.
I live in Northern Ontario in Canada.
For us, it's usually a situation closer to ...
It is snowing really hard, you can not see very well. In front of you a deer jumps out. If you are from here, you know, the best choice is to hit the deer. There will be damage to your car, but you will maintain control and insurance will cover it.
It is snowing really hard, you can not see very well. In front of you a moose jumps out. If you are from here, you know, the best choice is to avoid the moose. With their height, your car will take out their legs, but their entire body will hit your car and you have 1000 lbs of solid animal decapitating all in the vehicle.
Autonomous vehicles would have radar at minimum.
Probably infra-red, sonar, and who knows what else.
They'll be able to see through the snow.
If the snow is so heavy that they CAN'T...why are you on the road in the first place?
The likely hood hitting anything in front of it would be much less than with human drivers.
if the wee beastie were to jump out in front (like I had a deer do to me) then the autonomous vehicle would STILL be more likely to avoid it than you or me. 360 sensors don't you know...and reactions at the speed of light, not slow biological reflexes.
Any way you look at it, in any given situation, autonomous vehicles will be safer than people
There is no way I would get into a self driving car. I want to feel save when I'm in a car not wondering what move the car is going to take, I like to be in control
I don't see the self driving car in the next 10-15 years. Tesla claims a lot. At the moment not even fully automated trains are possible ( there are fixed tracks, limited number of trains all using the same system etc..).
Self driving cars may well be technogically possible but are humans ready to deal with them. What will be the headlines when the first fatality happens. Even though humans kill humans with cars every day.
Good point.
People will probably want to blame everything on electronics
Tesla is awesome! We can expect a lot from them in the future 😁
I remember reading an interesting article about the "split second" decisions that autonomous cars need to make on our behalf. Some of the more interesting questions were...
You are driving along a one-way road. There is a sheer drop to your right and a solid wall to your left. As you round a bend, there are four children in front of you. There is no possibility of stopping. Do you:
The follow-up question was ... What if, instead of children, it was an armed man who appears to want to car-jack you?
If you were the programmer, what would you tell the code to do?
The answer to this question comes from denying the assumptions.
If you are driving on a one-way road next to a cliff. Then visibility is X feet.
If you cannot stop in X feet, you are going to fast, slow down.
This continues until you are safe, or you have stopped.
And the answer, if you include "all of a sudden" into the scenario is to brake as hard as you can. It is the least damaging thing you can do. The other option is to turn the car into a known deathtrap. In case of emergency, the passengers will be terminated.
Turning the car into a known deathtrap for it's owners on emergency seems like a good way to turn people away who would want to buy these cars. I think the car should kill the other people, and not it's master :) How else will the loan ever be paid off then for the car? lol. Breaking as fast as it can sounds like the best option, but I think this would be a rare edge case to program for.
This is the best answer!!! Do autonomous cars travel at the posted speed limit or do they take into account for visibility?
These are some deep and very interesting questions!
It's incredibly hard to answer those.
This is something you don't think about, but of course the programmers have to deal with those kind of questions too.
how many times have you had to decide in a situation like that?
I live in Northern Ontario in Canada.
For us, it's usually a situation closer to ...
Autonomous vehicles would have radar at minimum.
Probably infra-red, sonar, and who knows what else.
They'll be able to see through the snow.
If the snow is so heavy that they CAN'T...why are you on the road in the first place?
The likely hood hitting anything in front of it would be much less than with human drivers.
if the wee beastie were to jump out in front (like I had a deer do to me) then the autonomous vehicle would STILL be more likely to avoid it than you or me. 360 sensors don't you know...and reactions at the speed of light, not slow biological reflexes.
Any way you look at it, in any given situation, autonomous vehicles will be safer than people
The government HAS to alter the laws in the future! Self driving cars are only the beginning!
I think so too!
I bet you cars in the future will be 100% electric, self driving and gliding above the floor
Yes, my guess would be similar. Current vehicles will be outdated soon
Very interesting, that first video looks amazing
Looks like I need to get a Tesla! Even if you don't let it run on Autopilot all the time, it's definitely more comfortable on long journeys !
That's true, it will be a big help and lessen the pressure of the driver
I wish my car would park itself like that lol
Wow the video looks awesome! Would love to try that out
Awesome video. I want a Tesla now!
In that second video he was riding down Keystone Avenue in Reno NV. That's near where I am! Just thought it kinda cool since nobody comes here.
I hate or dread these robot cars! Who knows what if some smart dumbass in the future can hack/program them to be "terminators"?
There is no way I would get into a self driving car. I want to feel save when I'm in a car not wondering what move the car is going to take, I like to be in control
I don't see the self driving car in the next 10-15 years. Tesla claims a lot. At the moment not even fully automated trains are possible ( there are fixed tracks, limited number of trains all using the same system etc..).
Great post! In fact, it was so good that we decided to feature it in our latest newspaper. Read it here: https://steemit.com/steemplus/@steemplus/steemplus-friday-october-21-the-daily-newspaper-that-pays-you-to-find-high-quality-content
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