Author: Stan Schneider, Real-Time Tong / font> Innovations (RTI) company CEO, the compiler: Xiao Yi machine
[Netease smart news April 20 news] If a few tons of heavy metal collision, it will not be silent. I started my own "crash" career. My first job was to conduct a biomechanical impact test at a research lab at the University of Michigan. Our goal was to develop passenger protection measures, including better airbags, child car seats, side collision prevention systems, and even wheelchairs. car. However, what impressed me most was the huge crash that occurred at the end of the driveway. This noise was always accompanied by distorted metal and obvious simulated slaughter.
About 30 years ago, when I was working there, more than 45,000 people died each year from fatal car accidents. Today, this number is close to 35,000. However, compared with 2014, the per capita mortality rate in 2015 increased by 6%. According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of Americans who die in car accidents every year is higher than in other high-income countries. We have improved, but only in a gradual manner.
Although we have more advanced airbags, anti-collision structures, anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, child seats, seatbelt pretensioners, seatbelt use plans, better roads, etc., we have also repaired many security weaknesses. However, we did not address the number one weakness of the security system: the driver. We can now. Today, we have the opportunity to experience automatic driving. No, it should be said that we have automated driving under ethical requirements, because a self-driving car can clear the massacre on the road. In the field of science and technology, there is no higher pursuit than this.
Of course, the role of self-driving cars is not just to increase safety. Think about how many US jobs have a direct relationship with driving: truck drivers, deliverymen, Uber/lyft drivers, which are just a few examples. The follow-up effect of the automatic driving will make the roadside hotel irrelevant, completely change the elderly and child care, make the car insurance obsolete, and abolish the car shop. (On the positive side, this will help us eradicate drunk driving and save a lot of time wasting on the way to work.)
A more in-depth effect is that by extending our actual driving mileage, autonomous vehicles will reshape real estate values ​​and even increase the number of visits to national parks. Since the advent of "horseless carriage", self-driving cars will have a greater impact on our economy and society. As a society, we must be prepared for this revolution. Even the terms we use, such as "driving cars" and "autopilot," mask our negation of the practicality of the new technologies that are coming.
A self-driving car is more like a robot on a wheel than an evolutionary version of a car. For these reasons, I call them "automobile robots." We all need to accept new roles in life, and new players should get a new name. Many people worry that "automobile robots" will inevitably make ethical decisions.
This dilemma usually goes in such a direction: Imagine that the robot is moving, and a departed truck crosses its path. It can choose to kill you (passengers) or attack five pedestrians. What should it do? My reply is: As a driver, what will you do? boom! You are dead, or a pedestrian is dead, or both are dead.
You may even suddenly turn to the crowd in panic. You see, you need to make this choice in about half a second. Whatever you think you should do, your moral panic cannot produce the best results. People can't give quick enough reaction to execute this decision. If we must study such a situation, we will be inspired by the fact that in the future, intelligent car robots will quickly make any choice. As a human driver, you may not be able to do it.
Like most people, I have been driving for many years. But unlike most people, I have spoken with thousands of other drivers on my business trip, and I have not encountered anyone who has ever encountered such an ethical dilemma. Fearing these rare cases is fundamentally worrying, but it also ignores key issues. The moral imperative is not to decide whether an autobot should kill you or 5 pedestrians in some absurd situation.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the moral imperative is to prevent tens of thousands of people from dying this year, next year and every year because 94% of all traffic accidents are caused by humans. . I bet that almost everyone who reads this article has experienced a certain type of accident. Many people know people who have been injured or even lost their lives in the accident. It is almost certain that one or the other driver is at fault.
People will text, drink, quarrel, sleep, make phone calls, run a red light, cross the street while driving, and often drive through parking signs. Even early-stage automotive robots are much better than human drivers. We need to stop arguing right or wrong in rare cases, and it is obviously right to do things in those very common situations. In fact, when you read this article, an American is likely to die because of a bad driving decision.
If we choose to embrace them, car robots will save thousands of people every year. This is our true ethical choice.
For those who are thus unemployed? Is it ethical to develop a technology that will end up with so many jobs? In fact, technology will always replace workers. Think about it, the candle industry was eliminated by electricity, the railroads replaced the carriages, and the iconic “whip†manufacturing company was also ended up without a horse-drawn carriage.
Yes, there will be winners and losers in the era of automotive robots. Work will disappear. What will the unemployed do now? Just as the Internet eliminated bank tellers, many people will eventually work on the new Google, Facebook and Twitter in the next decade, and these companies did not exist 20 years ago.
History has proven that technology has improved the quality of life. In fact, automotive robotics technology will completely change the way of transportation because they will make people's lives better. The resulting positive impact is far-reaching, and security is only the first of many benefits we will see.
Autobots can also do what human drivers can never do. They can drive in a tight, efficient manner, save energy and time, and make the most of today's carpooling lanes. Because we do not need to park car robots near your home, we can turn urban parking lots into parks. Autobots will provide a wide range of trips for millions of people, giving those who can't drive the right to move freely. For me personally, I want to sleep a long distance when driving to the ski resort.
Finally, the era of automotive robots will bring bold new challenges while also bringing more new benefits. Of course, they are just a microcosm of the era of smart machines. In the next 20 years, all walks of life will change at an unprecedented rate. The "old" Internet has changed many industries, such as banking and music. The impact of the Internet of Things and true smart machines will be even more profound. One of the benefits that this brings is that there will be no more crashes.
(English source /venturebeat, compiler / machine Xiaoyi, proofreading / small)
燑br>