I am someone who does not wear helmet in our current society where this is illegal and people don’t exactly discriminate in case of car accidents, so the introduction of smart cars will only confirm my current (bad) decision—no change there.
I currently wear a helmet, but would stop wearing one if smart cars were introduced. Assuming every car magically became a smart car, that means I am willing to suffer a fine in exchange for a slightly greater likelihood of surviving a nearby car crash. Considering smart cars are better drivers than humans, and that car crashes are already rare, that means if I considered the fine adequate to incentivize me into wearing a helmet previously I should consider them adequate now. There is an edge case here : smart cars are better drivers, but only by a small fraction that is offset by their tendency to aim away from me.
I currently wear a helmet, and will continue to do so.
Only the edge case would create a morally ambiguous situation, but that seems pretty unlikely (you’d hope that a swarm of cars with superhuman reaction speed would be more than marginally better at preventing accidents).
It seems there are few distinct cases
I am someone who does not wear helmet in our current society where this is illegal and people don’t exactly discriminate in case of car accidents, so the introduction of smart cars will only confirm my current (bad) decision—no change there.
I currently wear a helmet, but would stop wearing one if smart cars were introduced.
Assuming every car magically became a smart car, that means I am willing to suffer a fine in exchange for a slightly greater likelihood of surviving a nearby car crash.
Considering smart cars are better drivers than humans, and that car crashes are already rare, that means if I considered the fine adequate to incentivize me into wearing a helmet previously I should consider them adequate now.
There is an edge case here : smart cars are better drivers, but only by a small fraction that is offset by their tendency to aim away from me.
I currently wear a helmet, and will continue to do so.
Only the edge case would create a morally ambiguous situation, but that seems pretty unlikely (you’d hope that a swarm of cars with superhuman reaction speed would be more than marginally better at preventing accidents).