But horses are now a luxury and a pastime, not the day-to-day, erhm…“workhorse” of necessary transportation. Human-driven cars belong on racetracks and farmers’ fields, to be played with as toys, not as the backbone of modern mobility. There definitely will nevery be a “take all the cars off the road, and replace them with autonomous cars” moment, but aggressive legislation, and human-driven-car-unfriendly infrastructure design (as is done to transition cities from car-friendly to bike/pedestrian-friendly) can speed up the process by making the owning of a self-driven car more and more onerous.
As for the trolley problem, aren’t there already laws in place that guide decision-making about what drivers are expected to do in any situation? If I plow through three innocent civilians to save a squirrel, there are legal implications for that decision, no? How would current law respond if I valued my own life as a driver ahead of a child chasing a ball into the street?
