[mcv]

In areas where this is likely to happen, cars don't go that fast and should have plenty of time to stop. If pedestrians are actively trying to commit suicide and the only way to prevent that is to kill the driver or an innocent bystander, then hitting the suicidal pedestrians is preferable.

More generally, I think the car should try to stay on the road and it its lane whenever possible, and only leave that space when it's absolutely safe to do so. People on the street have chosen to interact with cars, people on the sidewalk haven't. And the best way to avoid an accident is usually to brake, and not to swerve into someone else or into a wall.

[sokoloff]

The question the article raises is not "should an autonomous vehicle ever use its brakes to avoid an accident?" but rather "in a situation where brakes are insufficient and the controller of the vehicle needs to make a decision about how to weigh the risks to various people, how should those decisions be made?"

[mcv]

That doesn't change the fact that this is a situation that should not occur. When it happens, someone fucked up. Maybe pedestrians are throwing themselves into oncoming traffic, or the car has already made some pretty terrible mistakes.