November 10th, 2020 at 12:42 PM
To some extent the company is still liable. The question becomes a matter of how to handle situations where, for better or for worse, the automatic cars are FAR safer than their human-driving counterparts. If more lives are saved by self-driving cars, should we sue the crap out of automakers when an honest mistake is made?
Unfortunately, that "honest mistake" still costs a life. And it may save ten lives versus the one that was lost, but a life lost is just that, a life that isn't coming back, and it's still a sad reality, and the auto maker will still get sued. And if someone's family still isn't coming back, every legal avenue is up for grabs, they will be persued.
Ethical questions like these will probably never get answered in a way that humanity accepts across the board. I think that auto makers should demostrate a very good safety record and let the people audit them independently. Once they have been trial run for years, they should be immune to lawsuits from basic things *unless* it can be shown that there was clear negligence. My reason for this thinking is that a very well designed automatic self-driving car will probably save far more lives than it costs, and ultimately, it will probably benefit society and reduce fatalities on the road. We need to not miss the forest for the trees. It can have the potential to become a very life-saving technology, if done right.
I'm not quite sure we've developed it to that level yet, however. We're probably still several years off, although they're getting closer.
Unfortunately, that "honest mistake" still costs a life. And it may save ten lives versus the one that was lost, but a life lost is just that, a life that isn't coming back, and it's still a sad reality, and the auto maker will still get sued. And if someone's family still isn't coming back, every legal avenue is up for grabs, they will be persued.
Ethical questions like these will probably never get answered in a way that humanity accepts across the board. I think that auto makers should demostrate a very good safety record and let the people audit them independently. Once they have been trial run for years, they should be immune to lawsuits from basic things *unless* it can be shown that there was clear negligence. My reason for this thinking is that a very well designed automatic self-driving car will probably save far more lives than it costs, and ultimately, it will probably benefit society and reduce fatalities on the road. We need to not miss the forest for the trees. It can have the potential to become a very life-saving technology, if done right.
I'm not quite sure we've developed it to that level yet, however. We're probably still several years off, although they're getting closer.
