
Why Self-Driving Cars Must Be Programmed to Kill - pavelrub
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/542626/why-self-driving-cars-must-be-programmed-to-kill/
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maxerickson
Your self driving car is driving at incredible speed along a cliff. A mother
hurls her baby into the path of the car. What should the car do?

Oh wait, that's stupid.

The incredible sophistication that is meant to be put to the question of which
humans to kill can simply be put to the question of what speed is safe for all
the humans present in the sensor envelope and then you probably end up where
reasonable people call any remaining incidents impossible situations (like a
baby being hurled in front of the car from some unseen location).

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bsimpson
I don't feel great about someone being able to force a self-driving car to
kill the owner by jaywalking.

Then again, hopefully cars aren't going fast enough to kill the owner in
places where people often jaywalk.

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DanBC
The A417 between Cirencester and Cheltenham is a dual carriageway that ha
pedestrian footpaths across it. Terrifying.

Imagine driving at 70mph toward this:

350 yard warning:
[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8078399,-2.0618748,3a,75y,...](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8078399,-2.0618748,3a,75y,167.44h,96.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKTMpYzvV-A1YmgE5UK7BAw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

actual crossing:
[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8051623,-2.0595278,3a,75y,...](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8051623,-2.0595278,3a,75y,167.44h,96.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1saNdFJWBbToa05d8ajkXiXA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

That's I think 10 seconds for drivers travelling at 70 mph.

(Not sure what's going on here:
[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8136298,-2.0688216,3a,75y,...](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8136298,-2.0688216,3a,75y,148.67h,59.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbQCbbwJ2upiqQW-
CJm_11g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

~~~
maxerickson
Does that arise because the path is a right of way?

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DanBC
Yes. I think it's part of the Cotswold way, perhaps. There are a few more like
that.

