summary-response

According to the article title” Current US Federal Policy Framework for Self-Driving Vehicles: Opportunities and Challenges.” (2017) which was written by Hanna, M., Kimmel, S., the author describes the benefits and problems related to self-driving cars. First of all, the author mention self-driving can bring the benefits to the economy and researching how to improve the performance of self-driving cars is like artificial intelligence learning and Internet technology. Secondly, he points out the safety problem of the self-driving, moreover, the authors mentioned the possibility of self-driving cars being hacked. Last, does the self-driving can reduce the exhaust emissions and save energy consumption and save the earth from global warming. In this article, I decide to discuss about self-driving car of traffic accident responsibility.

I agree with the author, a self-driving car can bring a lot of benefits but there are too many issues that we have to discuss, such as the self-driving ecosystem, responsibility of traffic accident for self-driving vehicles…etc. The driver caused a car accident because of reliance on the self-driving mode. (Tesla in fatal on Autopilot, 2018) Is it about whether self-driving cars bring us convenience or in danger?

First of all, the issue of self-driving cars of traffic accident responsibility is always the top issue to discuss for the self-driving car. About the self-driving cars of traffic accident responsibility, who should take the responsibility after it happened? For example, if the driver was driving on a high-speed road and started using the mobile phone in the self-driving mode, but accidentally hit the truck in front of him. In this case, should the driver carry the responsibility? Or an automobile company? In my opinion, I believe that drivers should take all the responsibilities because self-driving like prevent slipping mode is just function which is provided by automobile companies, but there is no guarantee that it will not slip at all. According to the “NTSB Releases Report On 2018 Fatal Silicon Valley Tesla Autopilot Crash.” (2020) which was written by Brad Templeton, the author states that the self-driving mode can only “support” the driver, who still needs both hands on the steering wheel. Therefore, I think that Tesla doesn’t need to take all of the responsibility.

Last but not least, the judgment of the autopilot, who should sacrifice? Is the elder? Or the teenager? When the emergency comes, how the criteria of the judgment for autonomous driving should be determined? For example, if there were unavoidable car accident about to happen, there were pedestrians in front of car, and children beside the car on the sidewalk. What decision should be made by the self-driving cars? This is an ethical issue, and even humans cannot decide. How should the self-driving cars perform this mission?

In conclusion, I believe that after reading my opinion above, there are questions about the responsibility of self-driving cars and the ethical issues of self-driving cars. The above two points are enough to reflect on whether self-driving cars should really be on the road? For me, there is no perfect solution on both issues right now, the only thing we can do for now is to limit the self-driving cars, and force users to follow these regulations.

Reference:

Hanna, M. J., & Kimmel, S. C. (2017). Current US Federal Policy Framework for Self-Driving Vehicles: Opportunities and Challenges. Computer, 50(12), 32–40. https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2017.4451211

Tesla in fatal California crash was on Autopilot. (2018, March 31). BBC. Retrieved from www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43604440

Tempeton, B. (2020, Feb) NTSB Releases Report On 2018 Fatal Silicon Valley Tesla Autopilot Crash. Retrieved from www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2020/02/13/ntsb-releases-report-on-2018-fatal-silicon-valley-tesla-autopilot-crash/#4eea302642a8