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I think the most interesting part is how we humans reason when it comes to risk. A hacker causing accidents is so scary that autonomous cars sound like a bad id

I think the most interesting part is how we humans reason when it comes to risk. A hacker causing accidents is so scary that autonomous cars sound like a bad idea, yet the risk of dying to a hacker while in an autonomous car would almost certainly be lower than dying to a drunk or distracted driver right now. 37 000 people in the US died in vehicle accidents last year and around 2 million were injured. Obviously not all accidents would be preventable by autonomous cars, but I wonder how many of those people would be alive or uninjured if the cars could have been autonomous.

corodra 9y ago
Yea, suicide rates are just as bad too. Same with medical malpractice and just getting an antibiotic resistant infection. Bad things will always happen. An issue here is control. I have an amount of control on the road as an active driver. Truly once self driving cars become a thing, no one will be a passive driver realistically. Everyone will have their nose in their phone. I grew up in Florida and learned to drive in Florida. The rest of the USA has rookie numbers when it comes to deaths on the road. Defensive driving is why I’ve dodged 2 drunk drivers. I won’t give up control of a vehicle to a computer. The reason why flying commercial flights is scary, lack of control even though it’s statistically safer. But it’s also statistically a complete shit storm when something does go wrong. Engine failure in a car and a plane have different stats on result for a reason. Point being, I doubt annual deaths on the road will differ all that much. We will all die in new ways because of self driving cars. That and folks who drive drunk are actively not making a smart decision already. “I don’t need the car to drive me home. I’m fine” that’ll be the new last words. Anyone who goes they’re too drunk to drive, don’t already, without having a self driving car.

corodra 9y ago

Yea, suicide rates are just as bad too. Same with medical malpractice and just getting an antibiotic resistant infection. Bad things will always happen. An issue here is control. I have an amount of control on the road as an active driver. Truly once self driving cars become a thing, no one will be a passive driver realistically. Everyone will have their nose in their phone. I grew up in Florida and learned to drive in Florida. The rest of the USA has rookie numbers when it comes to deaths on the road. Defensive driving is why I’ve dodged 2 drunk drivers. I won’t give up control of a vehicle to a computer. The reason why flying commercial flights is scary, lack of control even though it’s statistically safer. But it’s also statistically a complete shit storm when something does go wrong. Engine failure in a car and a plane have different stats on result for a reason. Point being, I doubt annual deaths on the road will differ all that much. We will all die in new ways because of self driving cars. That and folks who drive drunk are actively not making a smart decision already. “I don’t need the car to drive me home. I’m fine” that’ll be the new last words. Anyone who goes they’re too drunk to drive, don’t already, without having a self driving car.