To be frank, that is slashdot, and most articles there are idiotic. They claim that there is a dilemma, but it doesn't exist. The goal of creating a self driving car is to make it safe. To avoid all collisions. The scenarios described do NOT happen. Nobody, ever, in the worlds history, has been in a situation where they had the choice between killing themselves in an accident or killing ten pedestrians. And the chances are ten times slimmer in a self driving car that is programmed to drive carefully and avoids a situation like that. If you think otherwise, post a link to a case.
But since you are posting on philosophy, you should have thought a bit more about this. This isn't about you deciding whether to die to save ten lives. It's about making a decision how cars should be built. Let's say the whole situation happens X times. There are X drivers, and 10X pedestrians. If you are ever involved in the situation, then it is ten times more likely that you are among the pedestrians. So it is in your own best selfish interest that in this kind of situation one driver should die and not ten pedestrians, because that kind of design makes it ten times more likely that you survive. In addition, drivers in a car are very well protected. Especially in a self driving car that would predict the accident and can optimally control seat belt, airbag and so on and can optimally slow down.
Now you might try to modify the computer of your car. That has three problems: One, you don't have the slightest chance to pull this off. Two, if you pull it off and ten people die, you are going to jail for a very long time. Three, if my wife is among the victims, I'd make you wish you had died instead.
Dave: Your maths is wrong. It doesn't matter how often you drive and how rare it is that you are a pedestrian. If people never walk then the number X of accidents in the equation is small. Maybe very small. It doesn't change the fact that you are ten times more likely to be the pedestrian in such an accident. Maybe the one time in summer when the wheather was beautiful and you ate a bit too much and decided to have a walk, or the one time when your car broke down and you had to walk, you can't get around maths.
Isaacson: Please think about it and please think very very hard before you tell me my math is wrong. In every single situation where there would be a choice between one driver dying or ten pedestrians dying, there will be ten times as many pedestrians involved. If nobody ever walks, then clearly there is no chance to ever run into ten pedestrians! And the whole argument is about general rules, not individual cases.
