The Real Moral Dilemma of Self-Driving Cars

 

Until very recently, comparatively speaking, self-driving cars have been the stuff of sci-fi. However, most every major automaker is at least exploring the implementation of autonomy at some level, and a few of them have brought he idea to life. Tesla, for example, has cars in its lineup right now that can drive completely by themselves, though as we have seen, the technology isn’t quite perfect.

While there is certainly a moral dilemma at play with self-driving cars having to “decide” the least harmful course of action in a worst-case scenario, this video from YouTube channel Veritasium poses an alternative way of thinking regarding the implementation of autonomy in our vehicles. Simply put, they would pay far better attention to the road than we do. Thousand of people are killed each year and hundreds of thousands injured in accidents caused by distracted driving, and despite massive campaigns to curb this behavior, the problem continues to grow. So, despite a car perhaps making a “wrong” decision about which way to swerve to avoid an accident, the fact that the car itself is watching the road ahead may prevent the potential accident scenario altogether compared to a potentially-distracted human operator.

So, which is a better outcome: a distracted driver that may make the better decision when faced with a crash, or an autonomous car that may avoid the crash altogether, but in the event it can’t, makes a worse decision?