[THREAD ALERT] This chart illustrates nicely that the only sane thing a robot car can do when faced with a crash is to jump on the brakes /1
...plus if a car could stop within its own length, five metres or so, there isn't much else it can to do to mitigate a collision anyway. Steering over such a short distance won't make any difference as to what gets hit /2
To be able to stop in a distance of about the length of a car, an AV (autonomous vehicle) should be travelling no more than 20mph /3 
...but where have we heard this 20mph number before? At 20mph (about 30kph) 90% of collisions involving a pedestrian are non-fatal - 'twenty is plenty' /4
So a robot car can be as flakey as any other computer, but if it is limited to 20mph it only has to jump on the brakes when faced with a collision. Even if it fails completely it probably won't kill anyone /5
But if cars are limited to 20mph, surely the streets will clog up?
Actually no, a road can move *more* cars when they go slower - because the distance between cars can be much less.
The sweet spot is about 20mph (that number again) /6
Actually no, a road can move *more* cars when they go slower - because the distance between cars can be much less.
The sweet spot is about 20mph (that number again) /6
So here are three laws to mitigate intractable problems with robot cars:
1. AVs must be limited to max 20mph (30kph)
2. AVs must simply brake when they predict a collision
3. Owners can modify their AV cars, within reason, but not to break the first two laws
/7
1. AVs must be limited to max 20mph (30kph)
2. AVs must simply brake when they predict a collision
3. Owners can modify their AV cars, within reason, but not to break the first two laws
/7
...and these laws relate to the physical nature of cars and roads, there is no level of 'artificial intelligence' that would change them or make them obsolete /8
I should add that building cities for cars not people wasn't such a great idea in the first place. Robot cars don't solve any substantial problems, we should be asking why we need them, not asking how to make them happen /END
