So how would a self drive car deal with a cat?

So how would a self drive car deal with a cat?

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Discussion

CardinalFang

640 posts

169 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Seem to remember a comment from one of the major manufacturers on this issue a few years ago in the early days of the technology development. I think it might have been Mercedes, but could be wrong. The comment was that the moral & liability issues were way bigger than getting the technology to work: some developer somewhere had to write a system that made the decision between hitting an object in the road, or swerving & hitting an object on the pavement. The objects being anything from a cat, to a pedestrian, bus queue, or shop. Around that, there was the potential liability involved for the manufacturer who signed off that system & ultimately had responsibility for that decision. Don't know how much further down the line, the industry is to addressing the issue, but in an increasingly ambulance chasing/no-win-no-fee/blame culture the ramifications must be scarily huge. Nevertheless, the number of manufacturers working on, or already rolling out the tech seems to be growing, rather than shrinking, so maybe it's been addressed??

EazyDuz

2,013 posts

109 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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It must follow the three laws of robotics, they can add in animals to that as well though so wouldnt worry

DonkeyApple

55,452 posts

170 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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EazyDuz said:
Ithree laws of robotics,
Must have a beard.

Must not have a girlfriend.

Must avoid sanitation.

Certainly will be interesting to see the moral compass of the IT industry applied to cars. smile

Edited by DonkeyApple on Tuesday 28th March 11:43

Dracoro

8,685 posts

246 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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What if a robot (self drive car or whatever) was in the position whereby it needed to take action to avoid killing human A, however that action killed human B. Either way a human dies but how does the robot choose which?

Humans can make that decision, probably on emotional grounds (e.g. You save your child instead of the stranger). What if the robot is owned by you, should/could it be programmed to save your child over others?

Fore Left

1,420 posts

183 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Surely all cars are fitted with a cat-a-miss-it convertor these days biggrin

liner33

10,698 posts

203 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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I wouldnt swerve for a cat , maybe i'm a robot but then I do have this childhood memory of a spider building a web in a bush outside my window


Richard-390a0

2,259 posts

92 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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It's a bit harsh not letting cats on to the road until they've won a nascar race, surely the standard driving test would be enough?.

tescorank

Original Poster:

1,997 posts

232 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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shall we move on to the nascar racing then?

J4CKO

41,646 posts

201 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Just confused on the specifics of how Cats are involved in Nascar ?

Do they release a bag of assorted moggies at some point ? it does get a bit dull so can see how that would help.




Venturist

3,472 posts

196 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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But how would a self drive cat deal with a car?

Richard-390a0

2,259 posts

92 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Dracoro said:
What if a robot (self drive car or whatever) was in the position whereby it needed to take action to avoid killing human A, however that action killed human B. Either way a human dies but how does the robot choose which?

Humans can make that decision, probably on emotional grounds (e.g. You save your child instead of the stranger). What if the robot is owned by you, should/could it be programmed to save your child over others?
I read a quote somewhere from Volvo where they stated they would set their self driving cars to save you rather than a stranger. Basically the usual Volvo thing of protecting their occupants / customers.

stedale

1,124 posts

266 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Whatever happens, I just hope they avoid a catastrophe

lucido grigio

44,044 posts

164 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Stop pussy footing around ,no time to paws.....meeeooow

Richard-390a0

2,259 posts

92 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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J4CKO said:
Just confused on the specifics of how Cats are involved in Nascar ?

Do they release a bag of assorted moggies at some point ? it does get a bit dull so can see how that would help.
Now the nets over the windows thing makes sense, it's to prevent other drivers lobbing their moggies into your car!. biggrin

Sump

5,484 posts

168 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Why are old people constantly against advances in technology? Does it scare them?

Sten.

2,243 posts

135 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Gary29 said:
steveo3002 said:
what about a mcdonalds bag laying on the road , often see these and take a chance that its empty and go over it or straddle it , will the car tell the difference between a paper bag and large rock? will they drive around pot holes ?
Maybe I'm a luddite (although I'm allegedly an intelligent person with a scientific background) but I really can't see a flawless driverless car system in the UK, far too many variables for current processing power to cope with without some serious glitches with life threatening consequences.

Perhaps I'm looking at it in the wrong way or I'm missing something?

I think there will ALWAYS have to be a human sat behind the 'controls' to over ride the system in certain scenarios.
I tend to liken it to air travel. I'm pretty sure back in the early days lots of people thought there was too much risk involved, it wasn't safe and they couldn't ever see it taking off (pun intended). Today, millions of us travel by air every year even though it's not perfect and people do occasionally die.







DonkeyApple

55,452 posts

170 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Sten. said:
I tend to liken it to air travel.


You drive around with a passive aggressive, orange homosexual trying to make you buy a small tube of Pringles for £10 while inhaling the farts of 300 people?

threespires

4,297 posts

212 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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So many cats
So few recipes

mikeyr

3,118 posts

194 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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tescorank said:
As there are many variables and a computers can't deal with compassion I imagine a lot of dead cats, maybe on the other had they should not let (the car not the cat) them on the road until they have won a nascar race.
I'm pretty on the fence about the whole automated driving question but, and I'm just going to speculate wildy here, I imagine stuff like this is part of what's being considered pretty early on by those developing such systems.

Winning NASCAR races would be much easier I'd have thought so let's work out how long it would take for an automated car to win one of them. I'd wager 5 years max if all the current effort was diverted that way?

Scootersp

3,197 posts

189 months

Tuesday 28th March 2017
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Sten. said:
I tend to liken it to air travel. I'm pretty sure back in the early days lots of people thought there was too much risk involved, it wasn't safe and they couldn't ever see it taking off (pun intended). Today, millions of us travel by air every year even though it's not perfect and people do occasionally die.
accept there is barely anything up there but a few other airplanes? The pilots I believe still do the all the take off and landing bits?

So easier scenario but still not fully automated? Trains, very restricted movements, automatic signalling/points and not automated, why