Thread: Autonomous Vehicles

Originally Posted by bee utey

Always the helpful comment, eh?

you are welcome.

Article in last weekends paper about these autonomous vehicles.

Seems they regularly get rear ended,a real problem.

Programming of these vehicles is also a huge can of worms.

Example,someone or something steps out in front of one,and it realises it can’t stop,does it run into the object in front of it,swerve left or right,possibly hitting someone on the footpath,maybe a power pole,or going over the side of a bridge,if it happened to be on a bridge?

What does the vehicle sacrifice?The passengers,pedestrians,objects,who knows how they are being programmed.

Can they differentiate between a person or an animal,say a roo or dog,if it runs out in front of the vehicle.An animal in a dangerous situation could be sacrificed,but not a child or adult.

Just one example of thousands of possible scenarios.

These vehicles will probably be fine on roads of their own,but mixed with driven vehicles,and on existing roads is a recipe for disaster.

Originally Posted by scarry

Article in last weekends paper about these autonomous vehicles.

Seems they regularly get rear ended,a real problem.

Programming of these vehicles is also a huge can of worms.

Example,someone or something steps out in front of one,and it realises it can’t stop,does it run into the object in front of it,swerve left or right,possibly hitting someone on the footpath,maybe a power pole,or going over the side of a bridge,if it happened to be on a bridge?

What does the vehicle sacrifice?The passengers,pedestrians,objects,who knows how they are being programmed.

Can they differentiate between a person or an animal,say a roo or dog,if it runs out in front of the vehicle.An animal in a dangerous situation could be sacrificed,but not a child or adult.

Just one example of thousands of possible scenarios.

These vehicles will probably be fine on roads of their own,but mixed with driven vehicles,and on existing roads is a recipe for disaster.

The point is, when one day soon they do better than a human given less than 0.5 seconds to make a decision, what saves the most lives? When they can it's all over red rover for human drivers. Humans can't make moral decisions in that time frame.

Originally Posted by Eevo

first death

Woman dies in Arizona after being hit by autonomous Uber - Finance - iTnews

A woman crossing a street has been killed by an autonomous Uber sport utility vehicle in Arizona, leading the ride services company to suspend its autonomous vehicle program across the United States and Canada.


The accident in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe marked the first fatality from a self-driving vehicle, which are being tested around the globe, and could derail efforts to fast-track the introduction of the new technology.


The vehicle was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel at the time of the accident, which occurred overnight Sunday to Monday US time, Tempe police said.

Not the first death.
Won't be the last.

So, the vehicle was in autonomous mode.
What I want to know, who will be made the scape goat is responsible for this death? The pedestrian? The occupant? The vehicle builder? The programmer?
I reckon the CEO of the sales company should do a long stretch of jail time whenever his product kills or maims a person. That will soon ensure the product they sell is fit for purpose.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Not the first death.
Won't be the last.

So, the vehicle was in autonomous mode.
What I want to know, who will be made the scape goat is responsible for this death? The pedestrian? The occupant? The vehicle builder? The programmer?

None of that matters so long as the company operating the vehicles has insurance stating the cover for accidents when operating autonomously.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

I reckon the CEO of the sales company should do a long stretch of jail time whenever his product kills or maims a person. That will soon ensure the product they sell is fit for purpose.

If you applied your reasoning to every product that has killed someone there wouldn't be a single CEO left out of jail. Won't happen of course, rich people are more important than poor people in most countries.


Uber driverless car crash fails to deter early adopters because 'humans are inferior' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-2...-blame/9567766

Personally, I don't see the need for them.

Originally Posted by AllTerr

Personally, I don't see the need for them.

I'm sure the planet agrees ...... Wait, you were talking about humans, weren't you?

Originally Posted by bee utey

The point is, when one day soon they do better than a human given less than 0.5 seconds to make a decision, what saves the most lives? When they can it's all over red rover for human drivers. Humans can't make moral decisions in that time frame.

But will it always be a better decision,or a more correct decision, than what a 'person' would have done,in the same circumstances?

Sure the decisions will be quicker,but that may not always be for the better,or make the decision more correct.

Cant see them here on our roads in Aus, 'one day soon',they are many years away.

Suppose we will have to wait and see.