
Top misconceptions of autonomous cars and self-driving vehicles - otoolep
http://www.driverless-future.com/?page_id=774
======
brownbat
Interesting rundown and I agree with most of the main points. One quibble with
a subpoint:

> As we know, the trolley problem has no ethically right solution- because in
> principle we can not weigh one life against another

That is not the current philosophical consensus.[1]

Notably, the trolley problem doesn't ask you to weigh one life against
another, but relies on the fairly unobjectionable premise that five deaths are
worse than one death.

The trolley problem also involves an examination of the moral difference
between action and inaction, which is probably irrelevant for a machine.

But the article is right that these situations are highly contrived and
unlikely. The action "brake as fast as possible to limit the force at the time
of impact" is probably always the best possible solution, or near enough.

The more likely dilemma autonomous vehicles will face is how much effort they
should use to avoid rear-end collisions, but calibrations like that will
probably become possible with autonomous vehicles, when we could never expect
humans to have enough situational awareness to roll forward when safe to avoid
rear ends.

[1]
[http://philpapers.org/archive/BOUWDP](http://philpapers.org/archive/BOUWDP)

