Who goes to jail when the self-driving truck kills someone?
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Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
41–50 of 141 posts
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
At any one time, what percentage of the total truck drivers would you imagine are currently on the road vs maneuvering the last mile. The last mile might be a significant portion of where their skill shines, but it's almost certainly not a significant portion of the time spent. If a driver spends 1 hour at each end of a 20 hour cross region trip, that could still be a 10 times decrease in the total number of skilled…
You are not taking into account the risk of trouble (non-negligible)... Driving includes solving problems like lack of oil, crashes, etc...
Robberies should be question #1.
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#43Sending a truck down an interstate for 20 hours has to be the lowest hanging fruit for self driving vehicles. When was the last time an entire category of jobs became obsolete fast enough that laid off employees blamed the technology? When long haul truckers are out of work, how will municipal bus driver unions react?
Trains seem like pretty low hanging fruit, since they don't have to deal with nearly as much problems as vehicles on the road. Yet train automation still hasn't put train operators out of work. I doubt that self-driving cars/trucks, which lag far behind self-driving trains, are going to cause much unemployment anytime soon.
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#44Who goes to jail when the self-driving truck kills someone?
same as a self driving car
How does it work for self-driving cars then?
In case of regular cars, you go to jail for vehicular manslaughter when you brake the traffic laws and in effect kill someone.
My guess is that, if the driver of a self-driving car decides to press the "auto drive" button and the car violates traffic laws and kills someone, it's still the driver who's responsible. The self-driving features are not deemed safe by law and are not meant to replace a driver.
It may change when self-driving cars are actually legalized as a thing (as it is currently discussed in California), but I can't imagine the current designs being close to passing a proper homologation process.
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#45Sending a truck down an interstate for 20 hours has to be the lowest hanging fruit for self driving vehicles. When was the last time an entire category of jobs became obsolete fast enough that laid off employees blamed the technology? When long haul truckers are out of work, how will municipal bus driver unions react?
Trains seem like pretty low hanging fruit, since they don't have to deal with nearly as much problems as vehicles on the road. Yet train automation still hasn't put train operators out of work. I doubt that self-driving cars/trucks, which lag far behind self-driving trains, are going to cause much unemployment anytime soon.
At least in the US, the FRA is a regulatory nightmare though and extremely red tape heavy. The lack of progress in train automation is partly caused by the heavy-handed rules the agency rights which push implementation costs through the roof.
It'll be interesting to see if the DOT reacts similarly in time to vehicle automation.
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#46Sending a truck down an interstate for 20 hours has to be the lowest hanging fruit for self driving vehicles. When was the last time an entire category of jobs became obsolete fast enough that laid off employees blamed the technology? When long haul truckers are out of work, how will municipal bus driver unions react?
Trains seem like pretty low hanging fruit, since they don't have to deal with nearly as much problems as vehicles on the road. Yet train automation still hasn't put train operators out of work. I doubt that self-driving cars/trucks, which lag far behind self-driving trains, are going to cause much unemployment anytime soon.
For trains, where 1 person directs 200+ cars, the reward just isn't great enough. For trucks, where one person directs 1 truckload, it's 200+ times as rewarding.
Plus, almost every country in the world has stopped building infrastructure to allow trains to go where you'd want them to go. So trains are only useful for huge manufacturing firms and things like harbors. Goods trains don't even go to most airports anymore.
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
same as a self driving car
How does it work for self-driving cars then? In case of regular cars, you go to jail for vehicular manslaughter when you brake the traffic laws and in effect kill someone. My guess is that, if the driver of a self-driving car decides to press the "auto drive" button and the car violates traffic laws and kills someone, it's still the driver who's responsible. The self-driving features are not deemed safe by law and ar…
If I buy a car, it malfunctions in such a way that was not predictable by a reasonable driver and I use the vehicle in a completely reasonable way. As a result of the fault someone dies. Am I responsible for the death?
The answer for the moment is that we haven't figured out the ethical and legal questions in this area yet.
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are not taking into account the risk of trouble (non-negligible)... Driving includes solving problems like lack of oil, crashes, etc...
Robberies should be question #1.
Obviously the solution is to teach AIs how to use guns.
(Do military drones already have this? Could trucking companies legally send in armed security drones when they detect a robbery in process?)
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#49> Otto isn't alone in trying to automate big rigs. Daimler and Volvo Trucks have both demonstrated self-driving systems in recent months, but Levandowski doesn't sound worried about those efforts. "I think the trucking folks are doing a great job, and eventually they would probably solve the problem. But a company that is used to building trucks is not well structured to solve a technology problem," he says. As oppos…
As opposed to a company with top of the line machine learning systems.
Re: Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Robberies should be question #1.
Obviously the solution is to teach AIs how to use guns. (Do military drones already have this? Could trucking companies legally send in armed security drones when they detect a robbery in process?)
I doubt armed security can legally do anything beyond defending themselves as it is, let alone sending drones.
I guess they'll just wire the truck to alert police and turn on lots of cameras. Police might respond quickly... at least until the number of false alarms (truck hits a hole a bit too heavy, alarm goes "ROBBERY!!!11!") stays low enough.