Will Self-Driving Cars Accept Directions to Break the Law?

"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
03/25/2015 at 13:05 • Filed to: obey

I break the law every day. With the exception of driving in neighborhoods and in school zones, I drive my car pretty consistently at 5 mph over the legal speed limit. With the advent of self-driving cars, will the ultimate authority for these cars be the owner/operator, or the hard-and-fast letter of the law?

Being able to drive 5 mph over really is no concern, but what happens in an emergency situation if the driver no longer has any control of the car except for making requests to the computer? Will these cars obey our commands in an emergency? In some situations, driving 20 mph (or more) over the legal limit is the right thing to do (passenger having a heart attack, hospital is miles away, highway is clear of traffic). Similar situations could mean that running a red light is the best course of action. While calling an ambulance seems like the solution, there are plenty of cases where this is not the most effective course of action.

What level of control will we really have of these cars when they come?

http://gizmodo.com/ford-introduce…

DISCUSSION (13)

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
03/25/2015 at 13:10

I hope it's something I could set, say that when it detects X speed limit it lets me go Y km/h. That way I avoid tickets and also am not holding up traffic just because the system saw a limit that is too low and people are ignoring.

And I hope by "running a red" you mean "catching a stale yellow".

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
03/25/2015 at 13:11

My throttle pedal goes through a computer already, so this issue already exists. Will it obey my command to speed up? Will cars with ECU controlled cruise control react when you mash the computer controlled throttle to speed up. For the forseeable future there'll always be a way to override.

IDROVEAPICKUPTRUCK > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
03/25/2015 at 13:12

Yes.

http://gizmodo.com/googles-autono…

BorkBorkBjork > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
03/25/2015 at 13:13

In my opinion, the driver should always have complete autonomy to override any computer-operated control system on the vehicle. If somebody jumps in front of my car with a shotgun, I don't want the vehicle to prevent me from running their ass over.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
03/25/2015 at 14:04

I think it's going to be needed less and less though.

With the potentially really controlled smooth traffic patterns if everyone had automated cars, you might actually save time by going the speed limit. Mainly because the jackass at the front of the line will be driving a steady speed instead of gunning it every time they realize they've slowed down to 15 under while sending that super important text.

And without distractions (Car brains shouldn't have any) they could potential increase the speed of autonomous cars dramatically without as much risk.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
03/25/2015 at 14:04

I was thinking about an emergency situation where the light was red and there were no other cars on the road.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
03/25/2015 at 14:06

I'm thinking of a scenario far in the future where we no longer have a steering wheel and pedals, only voice command.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > IDROVEAPICKUPTRUCK
03/25/2015 at 14:10

Honestly, this is exact reason why I speed. I'd much rather be moving ahead, with a clear line of sight and more room around me, than in a pack of cars all going the limit, stuck behind a semi.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
03/25/2015 at 14:14

Given the state of voice command right now, that seems like something that wont happen until the very distant future. I said phone Emily to my (fairly new) phone and it googled "porn emily."

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
03/25/2015 at 14:16

My question is really not about speeding - it's about being able to override the car's programming in an emergency situation. That may include speeding, running lights, etc.

Goatboy takes it a step further...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
03/25/2015 at 14:20

Yup. 50-100 years, maybe? I guess 20 years is possible, if the tech gets good enough to overcome the legal hurdles.

Secretly hoping it proves harder than everyone things, as I'm a little afraid of governments pushing the driver out of the equation completely.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
03/25/2015 at 14:23

I think it'll be at least a decade before autonomous cars get the market share electric cars have now, maybe even two. Then another ten or twenty years for it to get cheap enough to permeate the market fully, then even longer before manually operated cars can be removed from the roads. Assuming that kind of time line it may not happen in my lifetime, so I'm fine with it.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
03/25/2015 at 15:08

Good.