   Hypothetical question - The auto-car
  A new technology is released that allows for auto-pilot cars. You simply get in your car, say the address, and the car will drive itself to the destination without any other input from the occupant. After the first year though, problems begin to arise in regards to the design of the cars. It appears that at times, certain conditions can arise that the computer cannot figure out, leading to the computer losing control of the car. This usually results in a fatal crash. The manufacturer states that there is approximately a 20%* failure rate of all the cars in use, but the amount of fatalities caused by the auto-cars is still less than what was being caused by manually driven cars.It’s time for you to buy a new car, and you have a choice of buying an auto-car or a manual car. Which would you choose? (please state your reasoning)*There is a 20% chance that, in some unspecified timespan, a given autocar will experience a crash as a result of "confusion" updated after post #17. Thanks K2edit note: The 20% failure rate is of all crashes, not just the ones where the occupants die. Also, it still is assumed to be lower than the fatality percentage of manual drivers (how much though is not known)[Edited by - boolean on December 1, 2005 8:28:17 PM]
  I won't answer but i will attach another question.How should insurance and compensation be worked out and paid to and from, in the event of an accident?Dave   ;  Er, I'd never buy an automatic car until they come up with some easy way of letting you take control of it manually.   ;  This is exactly what will hold back widespread adoption of self-driving cars. The technology is not too far away (as demonstrated by the multiple successful entrants to this year's Darpa Grand Challenge) but legal issues around liability in case of an accident will probably take much longer to resolve. Handling all the conditions that a car out on public roads would have to deal with is a good deal more complicated than navigating the Grand Challenge but I think it would be achievable within in the next 10 years with a higher average safety than seen with current human drivers but I don't think we'll see any of the major car manufacturers trying because of the legal issues.To answer your question, it's a well know statistic that most drivers (I think around 80%) consider themselves better than average... That means most drivers will think that their driving is safer than the computer's even if the computer is better than the average driver. I don't think the majority of people would be comfortable buying a car that approached human levels of fallibility even if statistically they should be safer. Personally I'd consider it if the safety seemed good enough but I wouldn't want to be an early adopter...   ;  What would happen in the event of having to choose between two worse case scenarios?Hit the mother and pram killing them or hit the wall killing the passengers?Computers are not prepared to make these decisions.   ;Quote:Original post by DaveWhat would happen in the event of having to choose between two worse case scenarios?Hit the mother and pram killing them or hit the wall killing the passengers?Computers are not prepared to make these decisions.Are humans any better-prepared?   ;Quote:Original post by cowsarenotevilEr, I'd never buy an automatic car until they come up with some easy way of letting you take control of it manually.Even if the manufacturer claims you have less chance of dying in the auto-car than a manual car?Quote:Original post by mattnewportTo answer your question, it's a well know statistic that most drivers (I think around 80%) consider themselves better than average... That means most drivers will think that their driving is safer than the computer's even if the computer is better than the average driver.So very true. I wonder what it would take these 'perfect drivers'? But then again, in the situation where you know you are a poor driver (for example, you may be blind), would you still feel comfortable using an auto-car?   ;Quote:Original post by DaveWhat would happen in the event of having to choose between two worse case scenarios?Hit the mother and pram killing them or hit the wall killing the passengers?Computers are not prepared to make these decisions.no, computers would drive in a way that they wouldn't HAVE to make that choice. if you are driving in an area at speeds that could be leathal if you hit a nearby wall,... you're driving too fast.   ;  Hrmm, a >10% chance of death from buying an AutoCar (20% failure rate, 'usually' means >50%, 20%*50%=10%)?Considering I have never been in a car crash or gotten a ticket, I'd trust my driving skills far more than the driving ability of the AutoCar software.Quote:Original post by mattnewport[...]The technology is not too far away (as demonstrated by the multiple successful entrants to this year's Darpa Grand Challenge) [...]The Darpa Grand Challenge demonstrated that we far exceed the needs of an AutoCar - it tested conditions much worse than are found on the typical well-maintained road system. Unless I'm remebering incorrectly, there were automated vehicles (as research projects) that drove across the US without incident at least 7 years ago.It would be much easier today, considering how well the roads are mapped by systems like Google Maps, Map Quest, and many other services. These maps could be used for planning, with actual navigation done by standard sensors so that mapping mistakes only cause suboptimal paths to be chosen (since the software won't know about a detour until it gets there, etc). It would also be possible to have wireless communication between cars, so that as you drive around your car is learning new info (such as current detours, etc) to help keep it updated. You could also have a wireless point in your garage that upload your car's knowledge to a central server for other cars to download. Of course, some kind of majority system would be needed to prevent easy malicious modification, but laws already exist to cover that kind of activity so no legislation is needed.   ;Quote:Original post by booleanIt’s time for you to buy a new car, and you have a choice of buying an auto-car or a manual car. Which would you choose? (please state your reasoning)The auto-automobile? Can we choose a car with both? I mean, I want to drive my car myself, but sometimes on those long trips it might be nice to take a nap - or to have a safety mechanism that kicks in the auto-pilot should I doze off.   