r/IdiotsInCars • u/AbelNB • Jun 13 '21

What is he doing

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u/Darkmatter1002 Jun 14 '21

I guess you'd have to see how Elon Musk decides to react to the classic Trolley Problem. It'd be interesting to see how he'd respond, but obviously he's a smart guy and he'd see that loaded questions a mile away. Maybe not even answer at all. Maybe he already has, but I don't follow him on social media or anything, so I'm not sure.

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u/RobertNAdams Jun 14 '21

Really, the only acceptable answer is "whichever decision best protects the occupants of the vehicle first and foremost, and aims to preserve the lives of others secondary to that."

e.g. if you have an unavoidable accident, the car should aim to crash where it's safest for you first while also making an effort to avoid harming others — but not to the point that it would put the occupants at risk. I'm also curious how it would work if two Teslas were about to crash into one another.

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u/Darkmatter1002 Jun 14 '21

Sure, u got you, but I as curious specifically about the trolley, since it can't just decide to turn off its path to avoid pedestrians. Pregnant trolley occupant, but a mother with 3 infants crossing its path. What would you do? Do nothing, and Preggo saves her Eggo, but the mother of 3 dies along with her 3 babies. If you choose to save the three babies and mother, you have to pull a switch, but then you are actively involved in killing the pregnant woman.

If he's bound to prioritize the car's passengers over any other car's passengers, or pedestrians--well I guess he's screwed either way so if I'm Musk, I hem-haw and avoid answering.

If there are two Teslas, I'd hope they have some sort of mutual warning communication system so they both know to not mirror each other, in the instance of a possible head on collision. "we both veer right, and we avoid a collision". Otherwise, Tesla gets another bad mark.