Comments by "Scott Franco" (@scottfranco1962) on "The Messy Ethics of Self Driving Cars" video.

  1. "Who would WANT self driving cars?" That's really the right answer. I don't, I enjoy driving. The standard answer I hear from technology jingoists is "yes, but a computer driver is safer than you are". I have never had an accident that I have caused in my life (only been rear ended - including stopped and not even in the car). Hard to have less accidents than zero. I'm 60 years old. By the time they wring out the bugs, establish a track record of self driving cars, and then (inevitably) pass a law against humans driving, I will be very safely dead or in the drooling lounge. Now having said all that, I plan to buy a Tesla and play with self driving mode, probably a lot. Its a neat toy. I just don't plan to trust it 24/7.
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  2. There is no ethics problem. The car should never be programmed to cause harm to a person. It is not reliant that doing that would save other people. Cars are not people, and computers and AI is nowhere near the state where they can make such tradeoffs. All that matters, and all that should matter, is that the car's programming is NEVER to hit anyone or anything. Think about it. Its hard to trust your computer to keep your documents safe. Do YOU want it to make life or death decisions?
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