3 ms·

did the tow truck driver attempt to mislead or cover up what happened?

by hnta2023 3y ago

joombaga 3y ago
The linked article does not suggest she did.
xp84 3y ago
I get your valid point here. I think most people would agree that they should not try to hide what happened. But it's also undeniable that there is an impossible double standard in play here. Those who believe that no autonomous vehicles should be allowed to ever exist use every accident like this to try to blanket-ban them (or to make it impossible to develop and test them, even if their safety is factually no worse (in terms of $bad_thing per vehicle mile driven) than human drivers). Those people are being emotional and cherry-picking. If every car was self-driving, the incident in the article here would have happened, but that boy in NYC would still be alive because what AV would have gunned it to beat a yellow? No one can say which life is worth more, however if they can demonstrate that there would be fewer deaths by developing and having AVs, vs eliminating them, it's a tough sell that AVs are evil, unless there is a viable alternative that somehow never ever kills or hurts anyone.
- foobiekr 3y ago
  It’s not a double standard. AVs aren’t human. We can set whatever standard we want for them. There’s no logical reason it should be consistent with the standard for humans.
  - achates 3y ago
    The logical reason is that if they reach the point of being safer than human drivers but we ban them for not being perfect then lives are being lost unnecessarily.
    - JambalayaJim 3y ago
      Self driving technology is much more scalable than a bad or negligent driver. So it is natural to be more concerned about it, even if you’re convinced that on average it has performed better than humans.
    - foobiekr 3y ago
      First, the companies involved in self driving need to stop lying about their records. Tesla has engaged in years of making extremely suspect claims about their safety that do not stand up to scrutiny at all.

did the tow truck driver attempt to mislead or cover up what happened?

The linked article does not suggest she did.

xp84 3y ago

I get your valid point here. I think most people would agree that they should not try to hide what happened. But it's also undeniable that there is an impossible double standard in play here. Those who believe that no autonomous vehicles should be allowed to ever exist use every accident like this to try to blanket-ban them (or to make it impossible to develop and test them, even if their safety is factually no worse (in terms of $bad_thing per vehicle mile driven) than human drivers). Those people are being emotional and cherry-picking. If every car was self-driving, the incident in the article here would have happened, but that boy in NYC would still be alive because what AV would have gunned it to beat a yellow? No one can say which life is worth more, however if they can demonstrate that there would be fewer deaths by developing and having AVs, vs eliminating them, it's a tough sell that AVs are evil, unless there is a viable alternative that somehow never ever kills or hurts anyone.

foobiekr 3y ago
It’s not a double standard. AVs aren’t human. We can set whatever standard we want for them. There’s no logical reason it should be consistent with the standard for humans.
- achates 3y ago
  The logical reason is that if they reach the point of being safer than human drivers but we ban them for not being perfect then lives are being lost unnecessarily.
  - JambalayaJim 3y ago
    Self driving technology is much more scalable than a bad or negligent driver. So it is natural to be more concerned about it, even if you’re convinced that on average it has performed better than humans.
  - foobiekr 3y ago
    First, the companies involved in self driving need to stop lying about their records. Tesla has engaged in years of making extremely suspect claims about their safety that do not stand up to scrutiny at all.