Uber and Self-Driving Cars Have More Than a 'Trolley Problem' - The Atlantic

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

Uber’s situation is even more knotted [than the Trolley Problem and other similar philosophical thought experiments], because none of the parties involved seemed to possess sufficient knowledge of the vehicle’s current (not future) capacity for doing harm—not the company that makes the car, the driver who operates it, or the government that regulates it. That makes the moral context for the Uber crash less about the future of vehicular casualty, and more about the present state of governmental regulation, corporate disclosure, and transportation policy. But those topics are far less appealing to think about than a runaway trolley is....

The seductive popularity of the trolley problem has allowed people to misconstrue autonomous cars as a technology that is already present, reliable, and homogeneous—such that abstract questions about their hypothetical moral behavior can be posed, and even answered. But that scenario is years away, if it ever comes to pass. In the meantime, citizens, governments, automakers, and technology companies must ask harder, more complex questions about the moral consequences of robocars today, and tomorrow. It’s time to put the brakes on the trolley before it runs everyone down.

MoBikeFed comment: One reason we are asking Congress and federal agencies to implement effective oversight of self-driving vehicle testing is that the present situation with regard to self-driving cars is complex.

Are companies following best practices with regard to safety or not?

Are the implementing sufficient safety backups when testing new, untested systems or features, or not?

Are self-driving systems capable of detecting and tracking people who walk and bicycle or not?

Possibly some companies' systems ate just fine in all regards--but we don't know for sure.

Possibly some companies systems are deficient in several areas, putting lives at risk. We have strong evidence now that is true--for some companies. But what about all the rest?

We just don't know for sure and that is a problem.

Please take a moment to contact Congress and ask them to ensure that self-driving cars can accurately detect people who walk and bicycle before they are allowed on the road:

http://mobikefed.org/2018/03/alert-join-mobikefed-league-asking-congress...

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