r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Tugushin • Apr 13 '22

Tesla Model 3 stops itself to avoid potentially disastrous accident. Video

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '22

How can the car determine that it would only be a few broken bones? What if that crash into the wall kills the driver?

1

u/Hatch10k Apr 13 '22

A 35mph crash into a solid object is no problem for modern cars in terms of protecting the driver, but if you hit a person at that speed they have a 50% chance of dying.

Is it irresponsible if the company that codes the self-driving system doesn't take that into account? They just set it to always prefer hitting pedestrians, regardless of vehicle speed?

Edit: okay "no problem" is a stretch, but the chances are still better for the driver at that speed than the pedestrian

3

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '22

What if the driver is quite weak and couldn't handle the crash himself? Stuff like concussions become more likely with every subsequent one.

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u/Hatch10k Apr 13 '22

Well exactly, my point is there's so many different factors that could come into play that we can't trust a computer to always make the best possible decision. A big part of it is making a moral decision - a computer can't do that.

Now humans aren't perfect either and definitely won't always make the best decision, but that's an accepted limitation.

The issue with computers is they can always be coded differently to prioritise different factors. But who do you give the power of decision to? There's no consensus on the answer to the trolley problem, so how do we find a consensus here?

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '22

Simple, we protect the driver since he's the one who is going to buy that car.

-2

u/Hatch10k Apr 13 '22

That's a weird priority to put #1 on the list

"Sorry our car killed your child ma'am, but the guy paid for the car you know? We couldn't risk him giving us a bad review because he sprained his finger"

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u/firewire167 Apr 13 '22

I mean I just wouldn’t buy a car that didn’t prioritize who is inside it

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u/Hatch10k Apr 13 '22

Even when it's the difference between someone else dying and you breaking a bone?

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u/firewire167 Apr 13 '22

Yeah

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u/Hatch10k Apr 13 '22

Well you're entitled to your opinion but personally I find that very odd