[ExI] US traffic deaths dropped to new low

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of BillK
...

>...Autonomous cars will, of course, be recording everything that happens so
that in the event of an accident there will be exact evidence as to who or
what was the cause.  Just a more advanced version of the black box recorders
already in most new cars today...BillK
_______________________________________________


That still doesn't get us there.  In the states, whenever there is *any*
accident and one of the drivers is found to be legally intoxicated, the
drunk is considered at fault, even if there is clear evidence the other car
caused the accident.  If a drunk is sitting stopped at a red light and is
struck from behind by another driver who is sober and merely stupid, the
drunk is at fault.  The line of reasoning may be that had the stationary
drunk been sober, perhaps she could have carried out some evasive action.

That line of reasoning could be extended to fault the computer in any
accident, with the reasoning being that even if the other driver caused the
accident, an actual human could have perhaps done a better job of defensive
driving.  This argument will hold even after computers become expert drivers
and humans are even more pathetic than we are now.

I predict that researchers will go down the same line of reasoning I just
did, and realize it isn't worth their time.  I predict we will not see
auto-autos in the next couple decades at least.

spike