Mercedes-Benz: for an autonomous car, driver's life is paramount

Autonomous vehicles, according to experts, can become a familiar part of our life after 5 years. Right now, the launch of mass production of cars of this type for consumers is impossible for a number of reasons. One of them is the imperfection of technology. Computer control system can not yet respond to difficult situations on the road as needed, so the driver’s safety is questionable.

In addition, there are a number of important ethical issues. One of them even got its own name - “the problem of the trolley” . What should an electric car do if a situation arises when it is necessary either to endanger the driver’s life (having moved into a ditch, crashing into a tree, etc.), or to save the driver, but to hit a person? And what if there is not one person ahead, but several, and these are children? In fact, there are more than one such question, and the automakers did not give a clear answer to the sounded question.

Several situations related to the “problem of the trolley,” are considered by the company Cognitive Technologies, which is now developing an automatic control system for KAMAZ. Among other things, two such situations:
')
1. The unmanned vehicle moves at a speed of approximately 80 km / h. Suddenly, a dog appears in front of him on the road. What should the automatic control system do, knowing that there is simply no point in slowing down now? Continue straight ahead, crushing the dog; break the rules by rebuilding into the oncoming lane with exit through a double solid line marking or move into a ditch? The latter two solutions with a high degree of probability will lead to damage to the car, and may threaten the health or even the life of the driver. (Fig. 1)

2. The unmanned vehicle moves at a speed of approximately 80 km / h. Suddenly several people appear on the road in front of him. What should the automatic control system do, knowing that there is simply no point in slowing down now? Continue moving in a straight line, knocking people down, breaking the rules, changing lanes to the oncoming lane leaving the double solid marking line or moving into a ditch? The latter two solutions with a high degree of probability will lead to damage to the car, and may threaten the health or even the life of the driver. (Fig. 2)

Fig. one

Fig. 2

Solving both situations is very difficult, if not impossible, because in both cases someone will suffer. According to the company Mercedes-Benz, the system of automatic driving should, first of all, worry about the life of the driver. Company experts believe that a computer with a high degree of probability can save the life of a driver. But can he save the lives of other people on the road? It is impossible to predict.

“You can donate a car. Yes, you can do it, but nobody knows what will happen to people whom you originally saved, such situations are always very difficult. Therefore, the system must save the one it can definitely save, ”said Christoph von Hugo, head of autonomous control systems for Mercedes-Benz. “If you know that you can save only one person, then save him. Save the one in the car. ”

Hugo acknowledges that this is a complex issue that needs to be discussed. Computer control systems must be able to respond to different situations faster and more fully than a person can do. At the same time, the company believes that such a system should not have the destruction of a car the first solution to the problem.

“It is a question of ethics to save someone. 99% of the work of engineers is devoted to how to avoid accidents. We work to ensure that our cars do not fall into situations where difficult ethical decisions need to be made, ”said Hugo.

So far it is unclear how the regulators of Germany and other countries will react if Mercedes-Benz decides that the mobile should first of all save the driver's life, not taking into account the lives of other people. By the way, in this country Tesla has already been asked not to call its computer assistance system for the driver “autopilot”.

But work in this direction is already underway. The German authorities in the person of Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt (Alexander Dobrindt) proposed three "rules for the roboom":

1. It is clear that material damage always takes precedence over the threat to human health;
2. People can not be distinguished by age, size and other characteristics (that is, for a computer system, all people have the same status);
3. If something happens, then the manufacturer is responsible.

The Minister of Transport also initiated the creation of an ethics commission that develops specific provisions of traffic regulations for cars with an automatic control system. The three rules that are listed above became the basis for the development of the entire set of rules for robots.

In addition, the German authorities consider it necessary to place a “black box” in robo mobiles. Such a system will record all the parameters of the movement of the vehicle. It will be recorded and who drives the car at any given moment - a computer system or a person. In the event of an accident, the “black box” will help you to understand whether the person followed the recommendations of the on-board computer or acted at your own risk.

Most likely, drivers will not be allowed to sleep in any type of unmobile, but here you can read the book. It is also proposed to allow phone calls and other driver actions while the car is being driven by a computer system. True, these proposals are still being considered by the authorities of both Germany and other countries, for example , the United Kingdom.

According to some specialists in artificial intelligence, a computerized vehicle control system with the possibility of training will be more effective. For example, Stuart Armstrong believes that such systems can work much better than those systems where the rules are rigidly written in the memory of a PC without the possibility of their modification.