[ExI] self-driving cars again

[spike]

... On Behalf Of Anders Sandberg
Subject: Re: [ExI] self-driving cars again

>...Robotic cars will occasionally end up in situations like the trolley
problem
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/06/the-google-trolley-
problem.html
- an accident is imminent, and the car(s) will need to make split second
decisions that would have been called moral decisions if humans had made
them... what kind of auto-morality and auto-ethics we should (or ought to)
implement beyond the engineeringwise more obvious safety and reliability
concerns... Thoughts? -- Anders Sandberg 


My first guess is to program the car for collision avoidance without trying
to make value judgments regarding the objects being avoided.  The problem
here is in helping the sensors distinguishing between a baby carriage on the
sidewalk and a tumbleweed blowing across the road or a dog which bolts out
into the path.  My intuition tells me we need to write the software to stay
in the lane and brake hard, rather than trying to make split second
decisions or value judgments.

If it is any help, the auto^2 would have the potential for much faster
reaction time and greater awareness of everything nearby.  I expect the
auto^2s to greatly exceed humans in safety once they are five years on the
road.

spike