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The difference is patience and reaction time. A computer won't be speeding on a residential street. It will identify a child standing on a curb for tracking bu
by lobotryas 9y ago
The difference is patience and reaction time.
A computer won't be speeding on a residential street. It will identify a child standing on a curb for tracking but otherwise not react to it until it determined that the kid's trajectory would likely intersect the car's. In that case it would break as hard as it needs to bring a car to a quick and safe stop.
- dmoy 9y agoWhy would the computer not slow down ahead of time if it saw a kid (or anything really) standing on the curb?
- ghaff 9y agoBecause people and, perhaps, objects that can't be readily distinguished from people stand on sidewalks and at curbs all the time without an intent to walk into the street. There's a fine line between defensive driving and driving so conservatively that you're constantly applying brakes because "something" might happen.
- squiggleblaz 9y agoBut there isn't a fine line between charging into someone with a lethal force so you can get home a little quicker, and letting them live. Cars driven by humans redesigned our cities. Cars driven by computers will probably redesign them again.
- ZeroGravitas 9y agoIt probably shouldn't be going fast enough in the first place for it to be an issue in suburban situations. It should be able to react in time even if a dog/child appears from behind a large parked vehicle. This should also be true of human drvers, but probably isn't. But yes, deer beside faster roads etc. should probably trigger precautionary measures to ensure reaction times will be sufficient.
- mlinksva 9y agoHuman drivers _shouldn't_ be going fast enough for it to be an issue in the first place, either. We lost that one close to 100 years ago -- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236825193_Street_Rivals_Jaywalking_and_the_Invention_of_the_Motor_Age_Street https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236825193_Street_Ri... on in audio form https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-76-the-modern-moloch/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-76-the-modern... -- and have been living in the resulting hellscape since. No guarantee computer drivers will be drive at speeds safe for humans.
- squiggleblaz 9y agoI surely hope that we will be much less forgiving of machines beating our children to death because they had the temerity to play in front of their own house, then when adults beat children to death because they had the temerity to play in front of their own house. It's despicable that anyone thinks it's acceptable, but it's different to say "you aren't allowed to beat that child to death when you're trying to get home after an exhausting day of work" than to say "Google isn't allowed to beat that child to death in order to sell a few extra taxis".
- TeMPOraL 9y agoBecause a human driver slows down in order to account for their reaction time and ability to continuously track multiple objects around them. Basically, they know that by the time they realize the kid is about to get run over, it will be too late to stop. Computers are already much better at tracking things and reacting to them with millisecond precision. (That's not to mention the usual disregard for traffic rules - and thus basic safety - an average human driver has, which other commenters have touched on.)