Self Driving car death

[Reeve]

Thats what makes this so important. Laws Re. Selfdrive will be written based off this event.

The Tesla Model S isn't a self driving car. Tesla Autopilot is a beta version of a driver assist feature that makes it exceedingly clear in prompts before you can use it that you're expected to keep both hands on the wheel and pay attention.

Autopilot is closer to a glorified cruise control that a full autonomous vehicle like the Google cars.

- - - Updated - - -

Thats click bait shit reporting. The Tesla blacks out the screen, he was watching nothing. He was listening to Harry Potter.

Friends of the family say he was using his laptop at the time. He could easily have been watching Harry Potter.

Also important to note that a witness who was driving 85 MPH at the time said the Tesla passed like she was sitting still. He was clearly going wayyy too damn fast for that road.

[Morae]

This thread is still rather recent so I decided to post this in here.

So... regarding automated cars. If deaths and serious injury arent avoidable anymore, what should the computer do? Go judge the morality if situations for yourself. Like... should to car drive over 5 people crossing the road or take the last turn and collide with a wall killing 5 people in the car? Drive over the doctor crossing the road or kill the criminal inside the car? Drive over the 2 wealthy executives or drive over the 2 homeless people? ect.

http://moralmachine.mit.edu/

[IIamaKing]

The Tesla Model S isn't a self driving car. Tesla Autopilot is a beta version of a driver assist feature that makes it exceedingly clear in prompts before you can use it that you're expected to keep both hands on the wheel and pay attention.

Autopilot is closer to a glorified cruise control that a full autonomous vehicle like the Google cars.

Well thats its own issue then yeh? I think calling it auto pilot is foolish. There is a distinct connotation with the words auto pilot, it implies minimal input from the user. Thats not at all what Tesla provides. I think that, in its self, will provide some fodder for a lawsuit.

Then there is the notion that I buy into this "auto pilot" feature and am told I still have to watch the road as if its not there....whats the selling point for 4k or more worth of software and hardware when it doesnt actually do what its name implies.

Driver assist is really what this is, at best, but I think it would be harder to get people to buy a car for however much more that feature cost if it was called "driver assist".

[Reeve]

Well thats its own issue then yeh? I think calling it auto pilot is foolish. There is a distinct connotation with the words auto pilot, it implies minimal input from the user. Thats not at all what Tesla provides. I think that, in its self, will provide some fodder for a lawsuit.

Then there is the notion that I buy into this "auto pilot" feature and am told I still have to watch the road as if its not there....whats the selling point for 4k or more worth of software and hardware when it doesnt actually do what its name implies.

Driver assist is really what this is, at best, but I think it would be harder to get people to buy a car for however much more that feature cost if it was called "driver assist".

Auto Pilot doesn't imply you don't have to watch the road any more than auto pilot on an airplane doesn't mean you don't have to watch what's going on in the cockpit. If anything, the name is apt, and Tesla has several layers of warnings you have to go through before it lets you use the feature explaining all of this to the consumer in detail.

If the consumer is still confused despite all of this, I may have to declare Darwin Award.

[Skayaq]

This thread is still rather recent so I decided to post this in here.

So... regarding automated cars. If deaths and serious injury arent avoidable anymore, what should the computer do? Go judge the morality if situations for yourself. Like... should to car drive over 5 people crossing the road or take the last turn and collide with a wall killing 5 people in the car? Drive over the doctor crossing the road or kill the criminal inside the car? Drive over the 2 wealthy executives or drive over the 2 homeless people? ect.

http://moralmachine.mit.edu/

I'm sorry, but your dilemmas are quite stupid, as most people won't even be in those situations. A car driven at the speed limit in a populated area have a stopping distance of less than 30m even with worn tires and a wet road, and even if you have people walking out right in front of a moving vehicle, the correct answer is always to slow down as much as possible.

[announced]

Neither autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor-trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.”

that seems like a legitimate problem. if the trailers white or some other color and blends in with the sky, and the car cant tell the difference between the sky and an approaching vehicle, accidents will occur. still the guy was driving way too fast at 85mph, or being distracted while driving.

[Morae]

I'm sorry, but your dilemmas are quite stupid, as most people won't even be in those situations. A car driven at the speed limit in a populated area have a stopping distance of less than 30m even with worn tires and a wet road, and even if you have people walking out right in front of a moving vehicle, the correct answer is always to slow down as much as possible.

They are not my dilemmas specifically.

Besides the idea here isn't "this probably can't happen so the question is invalid" since these situations are very unlikely due to the computer being able to predict quite a lot of situations and there probably will be safety systems. The question should be seen more like "if we somehow did end up at this situation, how should the computer act?". We need to program the computer to act some way. Death cannot be avoided. Who should the computer choose to kill? Who do we sentence to death?

[Skayaq]

There's no way the computer can know who they people on the street are, and even if it could the only way to get in such a situation is by making a serious mistake, like speeding or not maintaining proper distances, mistakes that really shouldn't happen with an automated car, and are far far more likely to happen with a human driver.

[Raphtheone]

Misleading title, as I'm guessing people more eloquent than me have probably pointed out already.

I hope this auto pilot / cruise control comes to more cars, I really want it. Should make 8 hour drives much more bearable.

[chazus]

Already a thread on this.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ight=autopilot

[poser765]

I don't mean for this specific model, I meant for autopilot in general. The idea is that something else is taking care of the driving. We're not ready for it with cars, at least not completely, since we lack a proper network that can better track things.

Generally no. The function of an autopilot is to reduce workload...not completely remove it. At least in the aviation world, the reduced workload allows the pilots to focus on other flight related duties while ensuring positive control of the aircraft. In fact, as pilot flying I am still technically flying the airplane and responsible for where it is going and how it gets there...regardless of the state of automation.

Of course the design philosophy might be different in an automobile setting.