The Ethics and Safety of Driverless Cars with Neil deGrasse Tyson & Malcolm Gladwell

Is there an ethical dilemma with self-driving cars? Are driverless cars safe? In this clip with Malcolm Gladwell and Neil deGrasse Tyson, they discuss the Trolley Problem with self-driving cars, Google's self-driving car project Waymo, and the idea that autonomous vehicles might be liberating pedestrians to do whatever they want. Also discussed: Are AI systems inherently racist? How dangerous will self-driving cars be in New York City and what autonomous cars mean for bicycle rides in big cities?

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Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!

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[teruphoto]

A beaming commentary on human nature: people will acts like jerks if there are no consequences.

[tanvirapu]

Test all the Autonomous Car in India. Specially Mumbai or Chennai. The ultimate driving test of both Human and Ai.

[timbruns]

You can program the cars to honk and keep on honking loudly when they realise that its unusual/inappropiate crossing. And automatcally call the police. There are still rules.

[DampeSN]

"The only reason we don't ride our bikes everywhere is the fear that we'll get hit."

I can honestly say that this reason _never entered my mind_ because well before this, I rejected the idea because _I am fat and lazy._

-Edit. And privileged. I'm also privileged. Thank you Deathstroke.

[theangrygamer]

I'm so ahead of the game. I asked my driving instructor back in the late 80s what would happen if a car arrived at each point of a crossroads simultaneously, who would have right of way. Wouldn't they just all sit there forever? (I was kinda green back then) He said not to worry because nobody on the road is that polite
Well, psych! I win.

[DonnaFernstrom]

The thing is, a lot of self-driving cars will have a passenger on board. And even if the car won't hit you, that passenger is likely to get out and punch you. So I think this is a social issue that passengers will solve. lol

[owengilchrist]

My favorite quote, “Here I am on a podcast with Neil deGrasse, and I am the one defending science!” I about spit out my coffee.

[dallaswood]

I can’t wait to see impatient drivers in self driving cars lose their minds when all cars on the road are treated equally and they can’t drive aggressively

[erikbradshaw]

Solution
All the cops who were handing out traffic violations, now instead can pass out tickets to pedestrians.

[ImtiazMirza]

It can't get any better, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Malcolm Gladwell talking about self-driving car!!
Please arrange more of this.

[alexpettit]

"The only thing preventing us from riding our bicycle everywhere is fear"? Or maybe not all of us live in a big city and riding a bicycle would make our commute 4 hours each way...

[justinvonmoss]

When Neil asked “how do you convince people that 2000 deaths is better than 35, 000 deaths?” I thought to myself that is simultaneously the dumbest and smartest question I’ve ever heard.

[sebastianfernandez]

Probably the best science influencer with an excellent dynamic with its videos. Guest speakers providing their knowledge, Neil simplifying and/or adding incredible information to us, and lastly our lovely Chuck, understanding and going with the flow of the conversation while still cracking jokes to put a smile on your face (tbh I sometimes need to rewind or look up stuff to understand certain things further ~mad respect~).

[jeremiahcaven]

Gladwell is the perfect guest for this channel. The chemistry is palpable. More, please!

[cloudrouju]

I’m concerned about the cars. Just imagine, if there are cars on the road, it would drastically change the relationship between people and horses.

[fredrikhagman]

I worked active safely in the car industry 15 years ago and we used to talk a lot about how pedestrians will “abuse” the system. It’s an interesting problem, but it is not something nobody thought about before.

[SL-vsfs]

I will say it again. Going from drunks driving cars to cars driving drunks is progress!

[ZootSuitJZ]

A point of contention. Even with self driving cars (which I'm very much in favor of), I'd still never ride my bike. For two primary reasons. One, even though I live in a major metropolitan city (Detroit), places are still too far apart, especially for the average of 150 miles per day that I drive. And two, we have very harsh winters, which is prohibitive of bicycle riding.

While your guest made many great points, he does have a narrow mindset of an individual whose life is wrapped up in a relatively small space (NYC). The rest of the country isn't NYC; it's very different.

[keithrosenberg]

People will walk out into traffic not leaving enough time for the self driving vehicle to stop.

[JarodWilliamson]

To have such high level thinking and ridiculously silly laughs in one episode was amazing!