http://moralmachine.mit.edu : ‘In the game, players are presented with a version of the trolley problem: a driverless car can either stay its course and hit what is in its path, or swerve and hit something else. Each round features a new version of the problem, with different obstacles and different groups of people to be killed or spared.’
Heh heh. I remember in Prague once, our bus was sitting on the trolley tracks and along comes a trolley. People in the bus started screaming to get off the tracks. The trolley stopped and our director admonished us for yelling at the driver saying the trolleys must stop for buses on the tracks. That was a new one. Had a lot of confidence in the trolley driver.) When crossing the street to visit Radio Free Europe earlier, the car drivers would actually try to run off pedestrians so you took your life in your hands there. I suppose it depends on where these guys get their programmers from but maybe in the interview they can ask about their culture regarding pedestrians.
“This would require the vehicles to make value judgments, including in versions of a classic philosophy thought experiment called the trolley problem: if a car detects a sudden obstacle—say, a jackknifed truck—should it hit the truck and kill its own driver, or should it swerve onto a crowded sidewalk and kill pedestrians?”
Hey, that’s just the way it is here on the Suncoast, but with human driver cars! The Suncoast, particularly St. Pete and the Tampa Bay area were chosen again as the most dangerous locations in the country for pedestrians.
Especially at rush hours, it’s like a full blown race to get where one is going. Drivers have to consider situations like, “Should I kill this guy, dressed in a bright day-glow cycling costume with strobing lights on both ends of his bike, on a nice sunny day, legally crossing in the cross-walk with a green light and “WALK sign,” with the right-of-way, or should I yield and run the risk of being 11 seconds later?”
For many drivers this is very, very tough decision and sometimes hinges on whether or not there are credible witnesses or just how late an individual driver is already.
Perhaps the study should include the Suncoast drivers.
CSA
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Sheesh. I’m sure we must have talked about dilemmas like these in Sunday school back in the 50’s. I’ve been late but never killed anyone.
The study invites new scenarios.
Or get rear-ended by at least 2 cars because I was the only one who thought to stop? 
Two years ago, the Sarasota/Bradenton/North Port area ranked 10th on the list of most dangerous cities to walk in. This year, that ranking increased to fourth.
I wonder if driverless cars would make pedestrians safer?
Wish me luck. I’m going out to ride. 
CSA
