Hacker News Reader

Comment by philwelch | Hacker News Reader

> I'm rooting for some massive disasters/scandals with self driven cars, to put the idea to bed. And you can be pretty sure there will be some big disasters if they ever get anywhere with it.

During the Vietnam War, more Americans were killed in auto accidents on the DC beltway alone than in the actual war. Auto accidents are one of the leading causes of death, and driver error is the leading cause of auto accidents. No, I think you just want to watch people die.

View on HN

I think you should probably update your stats.

Auto deaths are almost half what they were in the 60s in the US, despite more cars and more miles driven. And that figure is coming down by a pretty good percentage each year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in...

To put in in perspective, every year in the US:

  * People die from heart attacks: 600,000
  * People die from auto accidents: 32,000

Obviously every lost life is a tragedy, and my last comment may seem harsh, but the alternative is that this sort of technology creeps up on us, and we don't understand what we had until it's too late and we've lost it forever.

Heart attacks, in the cases where they are preventable, only end up killing the person who failed to prevent them. People who drive cars poorly end up accidentally killing other people all the time. And it's hardly a "freedom" anymore when people are practically required to either drive everywhere or at least be around constant car traffic in order to get anywhere.

Getting human-operated cars off the road doesn't diminish freedom, it enhances it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com