Agreed that their are trade-offs made, of course. But this society spends a ton of time trying to prevent all kinds of death. That's because life is sacred.
It seems odd to argue that. Yeah of course we can't stop doing things, but it doesn't mean we don't try really hard to avoid killing people.
Yes, and both Elon Musk as an individual and Tesla Motors as an organization agree. How they approach that idea is somewhat different from what we're used to though.
Their basic assertions are (in my words):
1. Vision and radar based technology, along with current generation GPUs and related hardware, along with sufficiently developed software, will be able to make cars 10x safer.
2. How quickly total deaths are reduced is tied directly to how quickly and widely such technology is rolled out and used.
3. Running in 'shadow' mode is a good source of data collection to inform improvements in the software.
4. Having the software/hardware actually control cars is an even better source of data collection to accelerate development.
5. There is additional, incremental risk created when the software/hardware is used in an early state.
6. This is key: the total risk over time is lessened with fast, aggressive rollouts of incomplete software and hardware, because it will allow a larger group of people to have access to more robust, safer software sooner than otherwise would be possible.
That last point is the balance: is the small additional risk Tesla is subjecting early participants to outweighed by how much more quickly the collected data will allow Tesla to produce a more complete safety solution?
We don't know for sure yet, but I think the odds are pretty good that pushing hard now will produce more total safety over time.
> life is sacred
This is my background as well, and its an opinion I personally hold.
At the same time, larger decisions, made by society, by individuals, and by companies, must put some sort of value on life. And different values on different lives. Talking about how much a life is worth is a taboo topic, but it's something that is considered, consciously or otherwise, all day, every day, by many people, myself included.
Most every big company, Tesla Motors included,make decisions based on these calculations all the time. Being a 'different kind of company' in many ways, Tesla makes these calculations somewhat differently.
That's a pretty cynical calculation to make. And no, we don't typically accept untested additional risk in the name of saving untold later. We test first. There's a reason why drugs are tested on animals first, then trials, then broad availability, but still with scrutiny and standards. This is a well trod philosophical argument, but we seem to have accepted that we don't kill a few to save others. We don't fly with untested jet engines. We don't even sell cars without crashing a few to test them. The other companies involved in self driving technology have been in testing mode. They have not skipped a step and headed straight for broad availability.
Why then does Tesla have a pass? There's no evidence it's actually safer. And there's no evidence that the company is truthful. We don't accept when a pharmaceutical company says, "no, it's good. Trust us." That would be crazy. We should not accept Tesla's assurances with blind faith simply because they have better marketing and a questionable ethical standard.
It seems odd to argue that. Yeah of course we can't stop doing things, but it doesn't mean we don't try really hard to avoid killing people.