[ExI] Self-Driving Cars Must Make Ethical Decisions

[Adrian Tymes]

On Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 9:00 AM, Tara Maya <tara at taramayastales.com> wrote:

> My prediction is that the biggest danger of self-driving cars will be if
> they are susceptible to being hacked by malicious humans. Harm will be done
> on purpose, by trolls or terrorists, far exceeding what will happen by
> unavoidable accidents.
>

I suspect this will far more likely be correct if there are
government-mandated ways for "authorized law enforcement officials" to
remotely control said cars.  While this would be done with good intentions,
recent history demonstrates that the majority of controllers in practice
would be...

* at first, law enforcement officials without legally valid authorization
(blank, unsigned, or non-existent warrants),

* eventually, not-actually-LEOs (such as NSA agents, or DEA/ATF/etc. agents
whose department was never authorized but who talked their way into getting
the codes),

* and finally, outright criminals (any non-government person doing the
exact same thing with the exact same - zero - level of legal authorization,
the only differences being that the Department of Justice is actually
willing to prosecute them, and that it will likely take longer for them to
obtain the codes).
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