Philosophy Now Forum

By safe I mean safer than human-driven cars.

Autonomous cars (also known as driverless cars, self-driving cars or automated cars) are cars that are driven by computer. Many would be surprised to learn that they're currently being tested on the roads in the various US states and elsewhere.

My opinion is they're safer based on the evidence so far.
Some may say more testing is needed (how much is another question?)

It's interesting to think about cars when they first started out 100 years ago. They had issues and concerns back then too (e.g. would the gas engine blow up?) Now they're an established mode of transportation.

I think a poll would be interesting about autonomous cars. What do you think about them?

PhilX

They are not safer, because they are not being tested to the same rigor that people drive in. Been a few accidents so far, and the computer systems aren't able to do much more than plot a course, watch for lights, and watch for moving objects. A whole lot they can't do, like predict if a kid is going to leap out on the street, or if a vehicle in a intersection is doing something weird (and I don't think driverless cars, with all the logic and laws involves, will completely eliminate bad driving), etc.

I want you to imagine a driverless car dealing with black ice, on a bridge, at a normal winter driving speed, with cars ahead and behind. Humans barely pull this off, swerving and sliding. I don't want to imagine a bunch of driverless AIs trying to crunch the numbers of figuring out what everyone else is figuring to do. They have certain benifits, like you can set a programmed legal standard, that all must act to under certain circumstance, but how well will they grasp this, in the heat of the moment, when they don't have a pragmatic survival instinct to stop certain actions, and the police report when it is all said and done is that the Snafu started a century ago with the way laws are actually worded.

I do not trust the to Salt/Sand the roads, but I can trust them to cut the green on the highway median. I don't trust them in the snow, but I trust them at 10 miles per hour in a special slow lane. I sure the hell don't trust them for military vehicles in combat, but recommend all our enemies desiring technological sophistication to become early adopters in their military vehicles.

I'm also worried dogs will figure out how to use these things, and will just start going weird places in the middle of the night. Last thing I want to see is a dog driving down the road on it's own with it's head sticking out, barking at me. Feeling of security gone instantly as a pedestrian.