Should a self-driving car kill the baby or the grandma? Depends on where you’re from. - MIT Technology Review

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The classic trolley problem goes like this: You see a runaway trolley speeding down the tracks, about to hit and kill five people. You have access to a lever that could switch the trolley to a different track, where a different person would meet an untimely demise. Should you pull the lever and end one life to spare five?

The Moral Machine took that idea to test nine different comparisons shown to polarize people: should a self-driving car prioritize humans over pets, passengers over pedestrians, more lives over fewer, women over men, young over old, fit over sickly, higher social status over lower, law-abiders over law-benders? And finally, should the car swerve (take action) or stay on course (inaction)?

 

Rather than pose one-to-one comparisons, however, the experiment presented participants with various combinations, such as whether a self-driving car should continue straight ahead to kill three elderly pedestrians or swerve into a barricade to kill three youthful passengers. 

The researchers found that countries’ preferences differ widely, but they also correlate highly with culture and economics.


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You know @preparedwombat, this Is the problem I have with the self driving cars. They cannot tell the difference between a dog or a baby. I am all fore new technology, but I really don't want to be next to a car with no driver at 75 MPH when a deer runs out in front of the car. There is going to be calculated death's, I don't want to be one of them!
resteemed!!

While the state of machine intelligence is still very primitive, it is advancing as an exponential. In the near future it will make a decision far superior to the majority of the human population. You fear a robotic algorithm calculating a moral decision. I fear the drunk driver or the sociopath behind the wheel.

Tough calls; but I guess people make them every day.

Exactly, and not very well in many situations.

I do not like the idea of a self-driving cars... what if the system has a failure ?What happens to the pedestrians and about the security?

Of course there will be catastrophic failures, both software and hardware resulting in death. The alternative is what we have now. Human drivers. Unlike the human driver, the robotic vehicle will not drive drunk, fatigued, distracted, too inexperienced, or too old and infirm. No road rage, no daydreaming, rubbernecking and all the other human foibles too numerous to mention. Presently we have 35,000 fatalities in US due to human error. When machine intelligence matures and takes over control of our vehicles we will still have fatalities but at a fraction of what people are presently causing.

kill the grandma, i'm very sure that grandma would gladly give her life for the baby, unless she's crazy

I would still have to say that I want control of the wheel. If a drunk driver is on the road doing something stupid, I feel safer knowing I have a chance to mitigate the situation, by taking evasive action.

Probably for the first few years there might be a drive or let the car drive for you option but once autonomous vehicles start becoming more common, I wouldn’t be surprised if manufacturers stop installing steering wheels, acceleration and braking pedals, etc.

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I'm not sure if this self-driving car will automatically stop if there are some object or people close to it.

I hope that the car will try to immediately stop before the grandma. If the distance is too short than probably the car should stay in its lane.