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from the could-get-interesting-on-Halloween dept.
A police officer is directing traffic in the intersection when he sees a self-driving car barreling toward him and the occupant looking down at his smartphone. The officer gestures for the car to stop, and the self-driving vehicle rolls to a halt behind the crosswalk. "This seems like a pretty plausible interaction. Human drivers are required to pull over when a police officer gestures for them to do so. It’s reasonable to expect that self-driving cars would do the same." But Will Oremus writes that while it's clear that police officers should have some power over the movements of self-driving cars, "what’s less clear is where to draw the line." Should an officer be able to "do the same if he suspects the passenger of a crime? And what if the passenger doesn’t want the car to stop—can she override the command, or does the police officer have ultimate control?"
According to a RAND Corp. report on the future of technology and law enforcement “the dark side to all of the emerging access and interconnectivity is the risk to the public’s civil rights, privacy rights, and security.” It added, “One can readily imagine abuses that might occur if, for example, capabilities to control automated vehicles and the disclosure of detailed personal information about their occupants were not tightly controlled and secured.”
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday August 26 2015, @11:48PM
If I am speeding on the way to the hospital ER (with a gunshot wound or cliché wife about to give birth) I want to keep driving until at the ER. Give me the ticket when we get there.
This prompts an interesting possibility. Even though I'm confident I could likely beat the average EMT team in a race (closed circuit, professional driver [which I am technically, just not certified with any motor sports organization… yet, hold out hope GT Academy 2016!]), I would still call an ambulance in those situations because they have one advantage I don't have: they can (mostly) safely run red lights and otherwise always have the right-of-way. I'm sure I could avoid a collision, but the disco lights remove all confusion.
So think about this. You've got a gunshot wound or that cliché wife about to give birth. So, in the automated car future, you punch into the navicomputer (the Millennium Falcon has one so I expect my robot car will have one!) that you have a medical emergency. The car then sends out an APB to get you a police escort (or perhaps uses some kind of web service to alert the nearest emergency vehicle for escort) while also telling all other robot cars to yield right-of-way. I expect it would follow the same protocol at red lights that existing emergency vehicles do: slow down, honk horn, ensure that cross traffic is yielding, check for pedestrians, and then proceed. Perhaps it could also have you inform the emergency room about the nature of the medical emergency so they can be prepared to receive the patient at the same entrance ambulances use.
Naturally, there would need to be severe criminal penalties for using the medical emergency button when it's clear there is none (and absolutely clear—let's not arrest people pushing that button because a seizure turned out to be less fatal than the layman robot car operator determined it to be).
(Score: 3, Informative) by mhajicek on Thursday August 27 2015, @02:37AM
The difference being that your car is right there; the ambulance is not. I'm five minutes from a hospital without speeding or running a red. I could get there before they could get to me, counting talking and dispatch time.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday August 27 2015, @01:38PM
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday August 27 2015, @01:49PM
Well, I am not 5 minutes from a hospital. There is, however, an ambulance 5 minutes from me. Sometimes even 30 seconds from me when they park at a nearby big box store.
I know we're all Internet Tough Guys and Amazons here, but the ambulance will be faster.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday August 27 2015, @08:52PM
If the ambulance is near you, you would have the advantage of trained and experienced EMTs with equipment to stabilize before transport.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday August 27 2015, @09:58PM
Good point! For some reason I didn't even consider that.
But! Here comes Obamacare and the “religious objection.” Here's a counterpoint (to the idea that the ambulance is the better option when you know one will arrive within 5 minutes): if the person who got shot is a trans woman who doesn't pass so well or if the nature of the injury might reveal her privates (or if it's a man known for being homosexual), the ambulance is right out.
I could possibly reach the nearest hospital in 15–20 minutes if I really push the pace and run red lights. So, the calculation becomes one of what I think the chances are of waiting 5 minutes for the ambulance to arrive only to be told “ur a fag! religious objection!” and still need to transport the patient myself.
(I'm unclear whether emergency services can be denied at the hospital, but I know from experience and the news that emergency transport services and routine medical services sure as hell can be denied. I suppose worst case scenario, I'd better import some Chinese herbs and get a refresher course on field surgery and wound dressing back at the tribe! [Meta: boo on anyone who replies as though I believe Amazon medicine is more effective than Western medicine. Religious objection is medical jargon for “fuck you, fag! DIAF!” Either that or a hint that my mission-critical role in enabling a small local company to bring cash from all over North America right here to a local economy in flyover country is simply not needed, and someone less capable who will capture less of the economy for the locals, but is straight, is wanted. And yes, currently planning to grant them their wish, but it's not as though I can pull myself up by my roots in an instant like I could when I was a teenager.])