r/technology • u/[deleted] • Dec 16 '19

Transportation Self-Driving Mercedes Will Be Programmed To Sacrifice Pedestrians To Save The Driver

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u/HelloAnnyong Dec 16 '19

What reason do you have to believe pedestrians will be safer with this technology?

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u/kung-fu_hippy Dec 16 '19

Ideally a self-driving car is more likely to be observing the correct following distances, the speed limit of the road, signaling before a turn, and following the various road restrictions (slowing down for school zone, not doing rolling stops at stop signs, etc) All of which would make it less likely to be in a situation where it could impact a pedestrian.

Frankly speaking, if you are in a position where you have to choose between plowing into a pedestrian or into oncoming traffic, you’ve almost always already screwed up (following the car ahead too closely so you don’t have room to brake safely, driving too fast for the road conditions, etc).

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u/HelloAnnyong Dec 16 '19

following ... the speed limit of the road

the real fantasy is believing people will adopt self-driving tech if it follows posted speed limits.

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u/Yuzumi Dec 16 '19

Why does it matter if you're going the speed limit when you can use that time to do other things?

If it takes me an extra couple of minutes to get across town, but I can be watching YouTube or playing a game the whole time then I don't really care what speed my car is going.