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Is this whole "question" really just a mental exercise, like the trolley problem? Surely the more salient question is how much senseless death could be prevented by the adoption of self driving technology, isn't it? This 'conundrum' almost seems to be intended to undercut trust in what could surely be a massive improvement to vehicle safety.

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> Surely the more salient question is how much senseless death could be prevented by the adoption of self driving technology, isn't it?

Absolutely. However, when answering that question, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to thoughtfully consider this stuff.

Clearly, even flawed autonomous driving— if widely adopted— would save many lives. But I can’t think of many things that would slow that adoption more than a public perception of “killer robots” roaming the streets.

If we seriously want wide adoption, it’ll be hard to avoid addressing the qualitative perceptual difference between a death caused by a human driver and one caused by a machine that we’ve engineered.

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