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Comment by toast42 | Hacker News Reader

It will be interesting to see if self-driving cars lead to parents being more comfortable with their children exploring.

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This is one of the aspects that are most exciting for me about self-driving cars: no road rage, no hurrying, complete respect for road rules. You wouldn't have to do the "game of chicken" on the crosswalk where you start crossing, but in such a way that you can always bail out if the oncoming traffic doesn't stop. You wouldn't have to fear for your life when simply riding your bike on a wide street. You wouldn't be one person having a bad day away from needing a wheelchair for the rest of your life. To me that day can't come soon enough.

Yes, more than that: if robot cars could be made incapable of hitting pedestrians, then children might start to roam again. It would be a marvellous unintended consequence...

No, from talking with some of these engineers, I'm pretty sure it's completely intended.

that is impossible in real world. if you go 50 kmh in 50 kmh zone, and small kid jumps 2m in front of your car suddenly, there is nothing anybody or any software can do. if it's 5m, would you rather crash and kill the parents than the kid? what about 2 kids?

it's dangerous direction of thoughts, meaning kids won't have to be careful when outside. but you have bikes, you have tons of other dangers.

Take an evasive maneuver at the very limits of the car's handling, brought to you by the speed of computers, while all the other cars around you adjust at similarly lightning-fast speeds?

Plus kids seldom appear completely out of nowhere. They will be tracked even when they are just on the side of the road.

It will still be possible to hit a pedestrian, but much less likely.

Well yes, we can't eliminate all dangers, but we can bring them down significantly and the rest is covered by teaching our children basic self-preservation practices. Like don't run out on to the street without looking even if cars can stop automatically.

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