Its

6:15 p.m. on April 24, 2024. Steve Gold is riding home in his Tesla Model 3300, a
state-of-the-art self-driving car. In the Tesla with Steve are with his 3-year-old son
and his 7-year-old daughter. As the car, abiding by the speed limit and all traffic
control devices, rolls itself with precision towards home, Steve eats a snack, watches
the scenery through the front window, and listens to his daughter recounting the
events of her day at school.

The car rolls up onto a narrow bridge. Just to the left of the car is a low wall
guarding the car from the water far below. To the right is a busy lane of oncoming
traffic, and then another low wall guarding that lane of traffic from the water far
below. Many cars are crossing the bridge that evening. Also crossing the bridge that
evening is a 14-year-old boy named Bart who had decided to walk along the top of
the low wall next to the lane of traffic in which Steve Golds Tesla is traveling.

As Steve looks ahead, he is surprised to see the boy walking along the top of the
wall, arms stretched out horizontally to help his balance. Just a second later, as
Steves Tesla nears the boy, Steve sees the boy lose his balance, teeter on one foot,
and fall right in front of his car. The boy is so close to the car that the car, traveling at
50 miles per hour, will be unable to stop prior to the boys location. The Tesla
instantaneously senses the human in front of the car, and calculates that, even with
maximum breaking, the Tesla will strike the human at 40 miles per hour, likely a
lethal impact given the humans position on the street.

At that same moment, a large truck is approaching nearby in the oncoming lane,
immediately followed by several cars. Simultaneous with calculating the breaking
speed and distance to the boy, the Tesla calculates the distance to the wall on the left
and the proximity to the oncoming traffic on the right. The calculations performed
by the AI features in the Teslas programming indicate there is no path to avert a
collision, and that a collisions is imminent. The Tesla must choose between a
collision with the boy (which will do no harm to the passengers in Steves Tesla), a
collision with the left wall (resulting in serious injury to the passengers and the car
falling into the water below), or a collision with the oncoming truck (resulting in
injury to the Tesla passengers as well as the passengers in the oncoming truck).

The algorithm with which the Tesla AI is programmed indicates that the Tesla must
protect its passengers where a collision cannot be avoided. The Tesla breaks as
rapidly as possible, sounds an alarm, continues straight ahead in its lane, and strikes
Bart, resulting in his death.

The Tesla arrives at a stop approximately 5 car lengths after striking Bart. Steve
runs to the boy and tries to help him, but Steve can see it is too late. Steve is
devastated that his car hit the boy. As a human, he would have chosen to swerve to
avoid hitting the boy, despite the serious danger to himself and his passengers. But
the choice was not made by Steve. The choice was made by the AI calculations built
into the Teslas programming.