Self Driving Cars and the Trolley Problem
Last month's autonomous vehicle survey produced some interesting results. About twenty percent said they didn't understand how they would work (I'm not surprised) and a similar number said they couldn't wait to hit the road in one.
If you didn't take the survey, you can do it here and of course leave your comments which are always the most interesting part. One person said her husband was unable to drive and she was looking forward to the time when he could summon a car for transportation - something I've rarely heard mentioned.
One respondent brought up the dilemma where a self driving car might "see" two obstacles ahead in an emergency - a car and pedestrian and - like a human driver - be forced to decide which one to hit. This led me to immediately revisit the classic
"Trolley Problem" and its many variants. If you're not familiar with it, check out
this link.
It's more than a fun thought experiment when you realize that actual programmers might need to consider it when designing actual cars!
As you may know I was a programmer on the Apollo guidance system and there were a lot of challenges - like not landing on the wrong side of the moon - but one thing we didn't have to worry about was hitting human beings! And no, the backside is not dark but it is never visible from earth.
By far the biggest responses were 1) that regulation would greatly retard the technology and 2) they might be common in ten years. Regarding regulation - it was a mixed blessing according to a reader who thought our grandchildren would be happy that millions of lives would be saved but they might have a legally enforced bedtime! Slippery slope indeed ;-)
