Self-Driving Cars I dont understand the whole 'what decision does the car have to make' dilemma

I dont understand the whole 'what decision does the car have to make' dilemma
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I dont understand the whole 'what decision does the car have to make' dilemma

Posted: 03 Jul 2020 05:56 AM PDT

You've probably seen it, there is a setup, usually a crosswalk, and the car is going to have to choose between killing a baby, two doctors or a grandmother or whatever.

I understand the appeal of putting that in your tv show. It's got fancy words like 'self learning AI' and you can fill airtime with the moral discussions. Everyone can have an opinion and feel invested. But it doesnt make any sense from a technical standpoint.

Lets take the most basic setup. Something unexpected has shown and the car is going to have to choose between going straight and swerving.

Surely the catch all solution would be to stay in your lane and brake? It's a computer. It's way better at quick reactions than humans. It's got the shortest braking time. And it has access to things like the airbags, so even if it has to suddenly slam on the brakes while going 200 km/h, it can employ stuff to protect it's passengers.

Why would there be time to swerve if there isnt time to brake?

On a highway, the most likely thing that can unexpectedly show up is another car suddenly going out of it's lane. If all the cars respond to that by wildly swerving, then they also go out of their lane, force others to swerve and it's just one big mess.

Compare to just braking hard. This passes the problem on to the car behind you. But that self driving car has been keeping a safe distance. It's also very good at braking quickly. So is the car behind that one. Sure, traffic would slow down, but it usually does that anyway if something unexpected happens on the highway.

The argument they often bring up in shows or youtube vids or whatever is that the car will have to choose between protecting it's passenger and the guy who suddenly stepped out into traffic. But that's bollocks. Their setup is contrived and just an excuse to talk about moral dilemma's. If it's a legal crossing at say an intersection, the car should have detected that there was a red light coming up and adjusted it's speed. If it's not a legal crossing, he made his choice. Brake hard and if there isnt time to brake in time, that's too bad. But at no point ever in that scenario is the passenger of the car in danger. Inconvienced, sure. Traumatised, maybe. But not harmed. Are they gonna replace all the crumple zones and safety cage stuff with wet cardboard? It's a car. If it hits a dude, that dude is fcked. The guy in the car is safe.

If the car was late in detecting the moose or the pedestrian crossing or the truck jackknifing all over the highway, why is everyone confident it's analysis of what lane is safe to swerve into is correct? Things like traffic in the other lanes, possibly even in opposing directions are never mentioned in this moral dilemma stuff. Neither is the option of swerving onto the sidewalk.

Detecting stuff in front and very short braking times and distances are some of self driving cars their strongest points. It's also the best direction to have an accident in, usually. Swerving might lead to getting Tboned for example. Or head on collisions instead of rearending. Yes, there's a few situations where swerving is better, but those are rare, and should get even rarer with drivers replaced with self driving cars. A suicidal wrong way driver for example. That's a 'omg swerve' situation. But for the vast majority of events, staying in lane and braking is the best option for a self driving car.

submitted by /u/groentemand
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How Tesla is Building Full Self-Driving, and Will They Succeed?: An Overview - Part 1

Posted: 03 Jul 2020 12:33 PM PDT