
Should Your Driverless Car Kill You to Save Two Other People? - cpeterso
http://gizmodo.com/should-your-driverless-car-kill-you-to-save-two-other-p-1575246184
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dm2
If the scenario in the article happened then 1st, the vehicles shouldn't have
been going so fast that a head on collision could be possible over X mph and
2nd, the autonomous vehicles could choose the option of engaging all breaks
and relying on the oncoming vehicles to do the same, while preparing to deploy
airbags. There is no reason that "drive off a cliff" would ever be an option
because the vehicle wouldn't put itself in that much danger.

It should never be possible for an autonomous vehicle to hit someone unless
they jump from the side or top and even then the vehicle should be able to
stop instantly because it calculated that there was the potential for
something to happen in that area.

If the vehicle is approaching an area where it can't see things that could
possibly come in front of it's path then it should be going slow enough to be
able to stop if something does appear.

If the vehicle is passing people then it should be going slow enough to be
able to stop if anything steps out in front of it's path.

Yes, inner lanes and highways that have barriers on the sides would allow for
much faster traffic.

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argumentum
As a consumer, I'd be very unlikely to buy a car that would kill me to save
strangers. Not that I don't care about strangers, but _to me_ my life is
simply more valuable. So given a choice, I'd pick the model that did
everything to protect me, my friends and family. I assume most people would do
the same..

Ideally autonomous vehicles will communicate so as to minimize such
conundrums.

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jqm
This is an interesting philosophical question.

Likewise the question "would your driverless car kill Hitler if it saw him
crossing the road as a toddler?"

Philosophical question. Probably not practical for what your car will know.

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EGreg
Unless the cars reach a Nash equilibrium or something they may just all go off
the cliff to save the others. That wouldnmt be too good.

Also see
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aumann's_agreement_theorem](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aumann's_agreement_theorem)

