Autonomous Vehicles Should Choose The Driver Over Pedestrians In Life Or Death Situations

For quite some time now people discussing the merits of autonomous vehicles have posed a hypothetical question of how a car traveling should react when faced with the choice of killing pedestrians or the driver. 

Years ago, Mercedes Benz has answered the question publicly (likely after numerous debates between engineers, ethicists, and experts) and announced that the car would save the driver instead of the pedestrians.

This should not come as surprise given that it is the car’s driver making the purchasing decision (and not pedestrians). After all, what is the likelihood that someone would want to buy a vehicle that says we're going to place someone else's life before yours?

Outside of the extremely rare circumstance where someone steps in front of car at the last minute (e.g.; Uber in Phoenix), this hypothetical is one that should by-and-large remain in the hypothetical space provided that car manufacturers develop their systems to perform reliably within the constructs of the “rules of the road.”

Put differently, if a vehicle ever found itself in a situation where it had to choose between the life of a pedestrian or a passenger, there was likely a failure in design leading up to that point.

Take this hypothetical for example… if a car was traveling around a curve to be confronted with children in the middle of the road, the car should have slowed down automatically before entering the turn (thus providing more stopping time). 

If you’re interested in automated vehicle safety in the US, head over to the NHTSA for more info.

-Adam