The Folly Of Self-Driving Cars

By now you may have heard that Google's self-driving cars may qualify as "drivers". You can find the details here:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3031771/car-tech/us-regulator-coming-around-to-view-that-a-google-computer-could-qualify-as-car-driver.html

This is a great idea, right?

Before you get all tingly about the latest development in AI, consider the meaning of this statement in the report:

The company is said to have expressed concern that giving mechanisms to human occupants of the vehicle, like a driver, that would let them control steering, acceleration, braking, or turn signals, or providing human occupants with information about vehicle operation controlled entirely by the SDS, could be detrimental to safety because the occupants could attempt to override the decisions of the computer.

That statement implies that the computer's decisions are to be considered "infallible" and that any human decisions based upon the same information are to be considered "detrimental to safety". It also implies that when accidents occur, the computer "driver" cannot be held liable for damages, because it allegedly will have made the best decision possible ... and without malicious intent.

As thinking beings, We The People will be legally inferior to AI. That is a horrible outcome, which MUST be prevented.

Google is not your friend, and AI is your mortal enemy.