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Should Your Autonomous Car Choose to Kill You Instead of Others?

Automobile manufacturer and some companies are starting to invest autonomous driving technology. Tesla put it in their Model S, Uber CEO said; they will invest in driverless technology, Volvo’s new flagship S90 will come with new advanced autonomous technology, and many other big manufacturers will invest on this for sure.

Helena Marsh
Helena MarshEditor-in-Chief
2 min read
Should Your Autonomous Car Choose to Kill You Instead of Others?

Automobile manufacturer and some companies are starting to invest autonomous driving technology. Tesla put it in their Model S, Uber CEO said; they will invest in driverless technology, Volvo’s new flagship S90 will come with new advanced autonomous technology, and many other big manufacturers will invest on this for sure.

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Until 2015, probably we will have some cars that don’t need a driver at all. But how about this; you are driving with your family on a highway and all the sudden your high technology car realized some kids on the road and calculated the course you are on might kill these children so the car decided to steer you and your family out of the cliff. Driverless cars are programmed to avoid any accidents. Save you and others even Volvo S90 new sensors programmed to avoid the large animals.
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That is why The California Department of Motor Vehicles is trying to draw limits for what autonomous vehicles can do. But Google that operate their driverless vehicle cars in California does not want DMV to insist what should be the limits are. Google proposes that car manufacturers should develop collision avoidance algorithms as they see fit. But it is too much responsibility for the companies, because of any accident cause by the computer in the car, can be open a door for big lawsuits. If they let DMV responsible for the limits of the chooses they are going to be responsible for an accident that resulted deadly.
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Regulatory agencies need to set some boundaries. For example, if some try the kill himself to jump in front of your car, the car should avoid him and put you in danger to avoiding killing that person, a person who try to stop you because he wants to harm you what should car do. We can be many examples like this. One thing for sure the autonomous system will save many lives but the extreme situations’ bounded should set well.
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Tesla S’ autopilot avoiding an accident.
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What ever happens with this technology, we still think that the person who is in the driver seat should give her/ his attention to the road all time. Even the computer system will react faster than a human being, never get drunk and drive or look away from the road and can see everything around the car but still in some situations logical choose can only make a human being.
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Original Story from latimes.com / Eric Schwitzgebel
Gifs: giphy.com 

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Helena Marsh

Helena Marsh

Editor-in-Chief

Helena Marsh is the Editor-in-Chief at TrendinTech, where she leads editorial strategy and oversees coverage across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise technology. With more than a decade in technology journalism on both sides of the Atlantic, she previously served as a senior editor at Wired UK and covered the technology sector for The Guardian, following the rise of the big platforms, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the regulatory push from Brussels and Washington. Helena holds an MA in Journalism from City, University of London and is a regular speaker at Web Summit in Lisbon and CES in Las Vegas. She believes technology reporting should be rigorous and plainly written, so readers understand what actually changes for them rather than what a company's announcement promises.

All stories by Helena Marsh (201)