self driving cars, pedestrian dread, death mention
One of the things that sticks in my craw about self driving cars right now is that there doesn't seem to be any clear legal responsibility for injury or death by self driving vehicles (and you better believe I'm thinking of the cybertruck here).
Last week a 21 year old in NY was crushed between two parked vehicles when one of them accidentally started and rolled forward. And whenever I read stuff like this I can't help but think "who's at fault"
self driving cars, pedestrian dread, death mention
And the worry here isn't "who do I sue if I get hit", it's this fear of a future where responsibility over pedestrian lives is abdacated to a driving program. The most likely scenario, knowing these companies, is that they'll force additional responsibility for safety into pedestrians on already hostile roads. I'm increasingly afraid me or someone I know will be declared to have been killed by a perfectly functioning algorithm.
self driving cars, pedestrian dread, death mention
@Naux I will only feel vaguely safe if the companies making these algorithms are *existentially* terrified of fucking up. Not just an insurance budget for slaps on the wrist (which is more than they need now!)
And that doesn’t seem likely enough to put my mind at ease.
self driving cars, pedestrian dread, death mention
@leafnoodle yeah. And again, a lot of these concerns are just a tack-on of how much infrastructure is designed for cars anyways. But it highlights some of that stuff in a really worrying way