Self-Driving Mercedes Will Be Programmed To Sacrifice Pedestrians To Save The Driver

FormosaOolong · 2019-12-16T21:08:04+00:00

Because if you can afford the car, your life is obviously more valuable than the hoi polloi.

Tom_Bombadil · 2019-12-16T22:41:39+00:00

Self-Driving Mercedes Will Be Programmed To Sacrifice Pedestrians To Save The Driver

"This one is for you BAPHOMET!"

dark_devil_dd · 2019-12-16T20:17:29+00:00

I'd buy that!

Screw women and children, just keep me alive bro!

AbeFroman · 2019-12-16T20:19:51+00:00

I'd pay extra for that feature.

Tom_Bombadil · 2019-12-16T22:34:41+00:00

Safety is #1.

proc0 · 2019-12-17T01:44:41+00:00

Customer is always first.

m68k · 2019-12-17T03:49:44+00:00

I always have cars and pickups trying to run me over when crossing the street (and yes I have the right-of-way FYI), now a self-driving car that intentionally tries to run me over. :P

DrStrangelove · 2019-12-16T20:19:59+00:00

And the self driving BMW will sacrifice pedestrians to save blinker fluid.

I see a market opportunity; VIP Override the app that tells your wouldbe murder vehicle to hit something, anything, other than you. Available on ios & android, $10K/mo subscription.

zyxzevn · 2019-12-16T22:57:20+00:00

Can you program which pedestrians it will sacrifice?
https://i.imgur.com/DqWRCb6.jpg

Tiwaking · 2019-12-16T23:17:42+00:00

Play this while you're saving your life

gretathroatborg2 · 2019-12-27T14:44:08+00:00

hopefully black ones

Tom_Bombadil · 2019-12-17T05:21:17+00:00

X and Blowcaine should never be parted...

Mnemonic · 2019-12-16T18:51:58+00:00

Made me think of this classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2xqlvAwRLg

Only now you can yell it, be right and shoot up a car if you want... Having an AR15 with these things driving around starts sounding more and more legit.

JasonCarswell · 2019-12-17T00:55:58+00:00

Knight Rider 2.0

JasonCarswell · 2019-12-17T00:49:34+00:00

Class war programming.
What's so wrong about that?
Most of us are already programmed to believe wealth = worthiness.

thefadd · 2019-12-17T09:03:21+00:00

[deleted]

thefadd · 2019-12-17T11:01:36+00:00

Why would I buy a car that would do otherwise?

yetanotherone_sigh · 2019-12-18T09:48:59+00:00

Lots of jokes and memes and other stuff in this thread. Going to attempt to discern what is being discussed here:

The Trolley Problem

A thought experiment in ethics.

There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options:

    Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track.

    Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.

Which is the more ethical option? Or, more simply: What is the right thing to do?

They are attempting to write the rules that teach the car ethics, so that the car knows ahead of time what it will do in an unsolvable situation. If your car cannot stop in time and must choose between smashing the car into an overpass abutment and maybe killing all the occupants (could be up to 1 driver + 4 to 5 passengers) vs. killing one pedestrian, what would the car choose to do?

Obviously this is a last resort, a worst-case scenario. The car isn't going to search out pedestrians to flatten. If the car knows it is going to get into an accident and cannot stop, it should have decisions set up ahead of time so that its actions will be predictable. Unpredictable computer programming is really dangerous. Let's say the car cannot stop in time and it has a choice between hitting three objects: a single pedestrian on the left, a telephone pole on the right, and a crowd of people in the middle. If you don't program the car ahead of time, it could end up in a point of indecision, where it cannot make a choice. Instead of turning left or right, it doesn't turn and it plows into a crowd of people, killing a dozen. We know that a dozen deaths is worse than one death. See?

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