4 ms·

We'll just have to see how liability laws and juries treat these technologies. We may well see a situation where thousands of lives could be saved from automat

by readams 10y ago

We'll just have to see how liability laws and juries treat these technologies. We may well see a situation where thousands of lives could be saved from automation, but any accident leads to millions in lawsuits and the technology is killed. Hopefully this isn't the outcome. Airbags occasionally kill or injure people also despite on balance saving lives. So there is precedent for this sort of math, but this is a very different kind of technology and not an ordinary engineering tradeoff.

HillaryBriss 10y ago
Takata airbags have been in the news the last several years because at least two people have died and more than a hundred have been injured. I've heard commenters opine that this "could mean the end of Takata as a company." But I haven't heard anyone say this "could mean the end of airbags as a feature in cars." I guess what the Tesla autopilot needs is a lot of good publicity every time it avoids an accident which a human driver would otherwise have actually caused. But where would anyone get the counterfactual for those cases? Does anyone even have information about that?
- Meekro 10y ago
  > I guess what the Tesla autopilot needs is a lot of good publicity every time it avoids an accident which a human driver would otherwise have actually caused. Sounds like a plan! Let's start right now. Here's an example of the autopilot dodging a reckless driver and avoiding a collision that many human drivers wouldn't have avoided: https://youtu.be/9I5rraWJq6E https://youtu.be/9I5rraWJq6E
  - studentrob 10y ago
    That's a video by the guy who died.. Some have argued he could've been more aware of the incoming truck due to its short amount of time to make its desired transition from left to right. Also the camera was positioned farther forward than the driver's eyes.
- yladiz 10y ago
  > I guess what the Tesla autopilot needs is a lot of good publicity every time it avoids an accident which a human driver would otherwise have actually caused. Even if that happened, people will cling to the negative news much more than the positive news, aka Negativity Bias. Even if Tesla has a stellar record overall, one bad incident, especially with a somewhat unknown technology, will be much more in people's minds than the countless positive incidents.
  - HillaryBriss 10y ago
    Right. I think that's true. And yet, people are killed virtually every day by car accidents, but nowadays there's no serious legal effort to ban all cars. How did humanity overcome its fear of cars in the first place? That same process is the one autosteer needs to undergo.
- readams 10y ago
  There are things like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X-5fKzmy38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X-5fKzmy38 and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5rraWJq6E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5rraWJq6E
- coredog64 10y ago
  Even before Takata, airbags were dangerous. US regulations require airbags to arrest unbelted occupants. This means they are larger and more explosive than those that take the edge of for an otherwise restrained occupant (e.g. Europe).

by readams 10y ago

HillaryBriss 10y ago

Takata airbags have been in the news the last several years because at least two people have died and more than a hundred have been injured. I've heard commenters opine that this "could mean the end of Takata as a company." But I haven't heard anyone say this "could mean the end of airbags as a feature in cars." I guess what the Tesla autopilot needs is a lot of good publicity every time it avoids an accident which a human driver would otherwise have actually caused. But where would anyone get the counterfactual for those cases? Does anyone even have information about that?

Meekro 10y ago
> I guess what the Tesla autopilot needs is a lot of good publicity every time it avoids an accident which a human driver would otherwise have actually caused. Sounds like a plan! Let's start right now. Here's an example of the autopilot dodging a reckless driver and avoiding a collision that many human drivers wouldn't have avoided: https://youtu.be/9I5rraWJq6E https://youtu.be/9I5rraWJq6E
- studentrob 10y ago
  That's a video by the guy who died.. Some have argued he could've been more aware of the incoming truck due to its short amount of time to make its desired transition from left to right. Also the camera was positioned farther forward than the driver's eyes.
yladiz 10y ago
> I guess what the Tesla autopilot needs is a lot of good publicity every time it avoids an accident which a human driver would otherwise have actually caused. Even if that happened, people will cling to the negative news much more than the positive news, aka Negativity Bias. Even if Tesla has a stellar record overall, one bad incident, especially with a somewhat unknown technology, will be much more in people's minds than the countless positive incidents.
- HillaryBriss 10y ago
  Right. I think that's true. And yet, people are killed virtually every day by car accidents, but nowadays there's no serious legal effort to ban all cars. How did humanity overcome its fear of cars in the first place? That same process is the one autosteer needs to undergo.
readams 10y ago
There are things like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X-5fKzmy38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X-5fKzmy38 and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5rraWJq6E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5rraWJq6E
coredog64 10y ago
Even before Takata, airbags were dangerous. US regulations require airbags to arrest unbelted occupants. This means they are larger and more explosive than those that take the edge of for an otherwise restrained occupant (e.g. Europe).