Saturday, October 15, 2016

David Z. Morris — Mercedes-Benz's Self-Driving Cars Will Choose Passengers’ Lives over Bystanders’

A simple answer to a complex moral question.
In comments published last week by Car and Driver, Mercedes-Benz executive Christoph von Hugo said that the carmaker’s future autonomous cars will save the car’s driver and passengers, even if that means sacrificing the lives of pedestrians, in a situation where those are the only two options.
“If you know you can save at least one person, at least save that one,” von Hugo said at the Paris Motor Show. “Save the one in the car. If all you know for sure is that one death can be prevented, then that’s your first priority.”
Another liberal paradox: There are no pesky moral questions.

Fortune
Mercedes-Benz's Self-Driving Cars Will Choose Passengers’ Lives over Bystanders’
David Z. Morris

2 comments:

NeilW said...

But most importantly - they paid for the car.

Joe said...

The more expensive the model, the more likely it'll save the passenger. And then cheap cars will use their location to choose, if it's a cheap car in a rich neighborhood it'll sacrifice the passenger for pedestrians, but vice versa in poor neighborhoods.