What if your self-driving car decides one death is better than two — and that one is you?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Morning Mix

What if your self-driving car decides one death is better than two — and that one is you?

By Sarah Kaplan October 28 at 7:00 AM

....
You’re humming along in your self-driving car, chatting on your iPhone 37 while the machine navigates on its own. Then a swarm of people appears in the street, right in the path of the oncoming vehicle.

There’s a calculation to be made — avoid the crowd and crash the owner, or stay on track and take many lives? — and no one is at the wheel to make it. Except, of course, the car itself.

Now that this hypothetical future looks less and less like a “Jetsons” episode and more like an inevitability ... makers of self-driving cars — and the millions of people they hope will buy them — have some ethical questions to ask themselves: Should cars be programmed for utilitarianism when lives are at stake? Who is responsible for the consequences? And above all, are we comfortable with an algorithm making those decisions for us? In a new study, researchers from MIT, the University of Oregon and the Toulouse School of Economics went ahead and got some answers.
....

The authors of the study, which has been pre-released online but is not yet published in a peer reviewed journal, are psychologists, not philosophers. Rather than seeking the most moral algorithm, they wanted to know what algorithm potential participants in a self-driving world would be most comfortable with.

[arcane1]

1. I can see it now: an automobile version of "I, Robot"

With scientists trying to figure out why various cars behaved in odd and unpredicted manners

[bananas]

7. That made me think of the old TV show "My Mother The Car"

Some guys mother reincarnates into his car, hilarity ensues!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Mother_the_Car

My Mother the Car was an original variation on then-popular "gimmick" shows like My Favorite Martian, The Flying Nun, I Dream of Jeannie, and especially Mister Ed, all of which depended on a fantastic, quirky premise for their comedy.

Like these situation comedies of the 1960s, My Mother the Car is remembered fondly by baby boomers who followed the series during its one broadcast season.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. I work in a field that deals with analogous issues

In general, if the system were good enough to be able to accurately asess those situations, then it would be far more likely to help me than to hurt me.

I'd want to know the odds of that happening to me, and whether there are mitigations.

[bvf]

4. I have a small problem placing my life in the hands

of an artificial ethical system that requires software patches.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. As compared to what?

That's where things get interesting.

[bvf]

6. Oh, I agree completely!

I can understand "rule-based" (or whatever the current term is) software for expert systems, but they are ultimately designed to conform to data put in place by "experts."

It's one thing (to me) to have a system rely, for instance, on information provided by a chemist to help determine the hazardous characteristics of a material to spit out on a material safety data sheet.

The extreme of that is to have a team of ethicists (one hopes) providing input on matters that inherently determine a thumbs up or down on my mortality, based on, ahem, their joint conception of the greater good.

There's a spectrum between those things about which I'm sure volumes have been (and are probably being) written.

Even if a controlling bit of software tells my car how to handle braking, I think I can safely assume that its purpose is to make damned sure the brakes do what they're supposed to, without value judgments imposed by a higher level of code.

Yeah, I'm sure things are bound to get way more interesting as we move closer to whatever autonomous vehicles are ultimately going to be capable of.

[Darb]

12. It is actually a done deal. Driverless cars will rule the road sooner rather

than later. There will be lots of hand-wringing by all the man-child drivers, but the insurance companies will have the final say. It is inevitable and coming soon.

Just stop to think about it and you will realize that it is a no-brainer.

[bvf]

15. Where did I say it wasn't inevitable?

Of course it is! That doesn't for a second mean that there isn't a hell of a lot of room for discussion about the intersection of ethics and A.I.

[jberryhill]

3. Depends on the point value

&feature=youtu.be&t=15

[bananas]

8. Hmm, the courts have established standard calculations for wrongful death settlements

A truly utilitarian car would attempt to minimize the total damages, as established by the courts.

http://accident-law.freeadvice.com/accident-law/wrongful_death/present_value.htm

https://www.millerandzois.com/wrongful-death-and-survival-actions-in-maryland.html

[Blue_Tires]

9. Useless argument for me

since I won't ever own one...

[Darb]

10. How old are you now?

Because if you are younger than 50, your ""won't ever own one" will mean that you will only be a passenger in someone else's. You see, you won't be able to get insurance in about 10-15 years to "drive" your car yourself. Actual human drivers will be gone in 15 years.

Think about investing in the companies that are leaders in the software of self-driving cars and get on board.

[Blue_Tires]

11. I honestly can't tell if you being serious or taking the piss...

[Darb]

13. Completely serious.

You will not be able to get insured to drive your own car in 15 years. Or more accurately, you probably won't be able to buy a "U-drive" car in that time frame. And your oldie? It will be restricted to tracks.

The benefits of self-driving cars will make our current system obsolete rather quickly. There will be lots of folks who won't believe it, but buckle up, it is coming and it is coming fast.

The benefits are astounding.

[Blue_Tires]

14. uh...ok...

Unless you're some kind of clairvoyant or time traveler from the future, I'll just say you know nothing about how the car industry operates, and leave it at that...

[Darb]

16. Uh....ok....

You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. The auto makers will adapt or perish as well.

I am certain folks like you laughed a Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and the rest when they said there would be a PC on every desk. I am not saying I am like them, but I can read the writing on the wall. Your first robot will be your car.

It will go something like this: "Betty, go get Little Johnny at soccer practice". Betty is a Toyota.

[geek tragedy]

17. Would that algorithm have to be disclosed to the purchaser of the car? Methinks so, so the market

should answer that question, decisively and predictably.