Survey Says: Driverless Cars Should Save Lives – Starting with the Driver

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Survey Says: Driverless Cars Should Save Lives – Starting with the Driver

June 24th, 2016

Awake Goy

Susanne.Posel-Headline.News.Official-self.driving.cars.kill.you.pedestrians.01_occupycorporatism Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Group

Self-driving cars (SDCs) will become part of our traveling experience in the near future, replacing the estimated 255.8 million drivers on the road right now.

But there are problems getting there.

SDCs will have to have up-to-date maps programmed into their memory and right now those maps are not accurate. In-climate weather conditions like a snow or rain storm could throw the car off.

And there’s the problem with pedestrians. SDCs have to know how not to kill people walking on the street, but they also have to know how not to kill the driver of the car while saving a J-walker.

This is actually a big problem because as of right now about 34,000 people die in a car crash annually while 3.9 million are severely injured. These accidents are caused by “human error” 93% of the time; costing an estimated $190 billion every year.

One interesting point about car crashes is that when surveyed, people said they would want the SDC to avoid hitting a pedestrian, “even if that meant killing the occupant of the car”. The caveat in this hypothetical scenario was that those asked did not want to be in the swerving car.

Shockingly, those asked “objectively want the car to save the most people possible. Just not when it’s them or their own children.”

Iyad Rahwan, associate professor of media arts and sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, explained at a press conference: “Even if you started off as one of the noble people who were willing to buy a self-sacrificing car, once you realize that most people are buying self-protective ones then you’re going to really reconsider why you’re putting yourself at risk to shoulder the burdens of the collective when no one else will.”

Those surveyed agreed that between 54% and 66% of the time, an SDC should “save as many lives as possible”, calling for a “utilitarian set of rules designed to maximize lives saved and minimize deaths.”

They just “want their own car to protect them at all costs” because apparently altruism ends when it’s personal.