This is the current norm. If you are parked in front of a fire hydrant or in a fire lane when the needful happens, the fire department will remove you with prejudice. My few volunteer fire department family members take a certain gleeful joy in expediting your exit from the area when the rare opportunity presents itself.
Chances are the damage will be solely on your vehicle, as fire trucks and police vehicles are equipped to push stuff off the road without damage to their equipment.
No I won't be happy about it, but yes if I block emergency services and they need to damage my property then I am absolutely the one who should have to pay.
If we reach the point of needing to forcicbly move mass numbers of cars off the road for fire trucks, that's a dire situation where routine cost/benefit analysis has already gone out the window.
Although it would be amusing for them to do it at high velocity if the cars (and surrounding cars if any) were "dead heading" or had no humans in them for other reasons (perhaps because the humans had fled the vehicles upon seeing the fire truck headed their way!).
Yes that’s the correct decision when those are the only options, like if a car has stalled or the driver just got out and ran away.
In this case there’s a third option: the computer that’s still perfectly functional should have been able to get out of the way on its own. And legally all drivers are required to.
I assume that applies to robots as well, if it doesn’t it absolutely should.
Modern fire trucks, and police cars usually, are built to be able to push vehicles out of the way. It's a very common need.
(Not an argument against Waymo doing better in this situation though!)
if google's property is blocking the road, google can pay for the damage
Just paying for the physical damage isn't enough. It should also come with massive fines for obstructing emergency vehicles.
That doesn't bring people back to life or restore quality of life for life-changing injuries.
As long as you're happy that if your property ever blocks the road, you will pay for the damage too.
> As long as you're happy that if your property ever blocks the road, you will pay for the damage too.
Pretty sure that's always the expectation? It's typical to tow illegally parked cars, smash windows to run hoses through cars blocking hydrants, etc.
The only unusual thing here would be holding a corporation to account the way we hold individuals to account.
This is the current norm. If you are parked in front of a fire hydrant or in a fire lane when the needful happens, the fire department will remove you with prejudice. My few volunteer fire department family members take a certain gleeful joy in expediting your exit from the area when the rare opportunity presents itself.
Chances are the damage will be solely on your vehicle, as fire trucks and police vehicles are equipped to push stuff off the road without damage to their equipment.
No I won't be happy about it, but yes if I block emergency services and they need to damage my property then I am absolutely the one who should have to pay.
absolutely
don't be a dick, don't block the road
Duh?
If we reach the point of needing to forcicbly move mass numbers of cars off the road for fire trucks, that's a dire situation where routine cost/benefit analysis has already gone out the window.
They have massive steel bumpers, pushing them away slowly seems mostly harmless (not at maximum velocity lol)
Although it would be amusing for them to do it at high velocity if the cars (and surrounding cars if any) were "dead heading" or had no humans in them for other reasons (perhaps because the humans had fled the vehicles upon seeing the fire truck headed their way!).
True, but in a 'Big One' event i dont think we would care.
You care because it takes valuable time to move things out of the way and in an emergency time is often the one resource you don’t have.
In an emergency, if the only options are taking time moving things out of the way or not being able to move, you move things out of the way.
GP’s point is that’s a false dichotomy.
Yes that’s the correct decision when those are the only options, like if a car has stalled or the driver just got out and ran away.
In this case there’s a third option: the computer that’s still perfectly functional should have been able to get out of the way on its own. And legally all drivers are required to.
I assume that applies to robots as well, if it doesn’t it absolutely should.