Wouldn't that just be a weird corner case though? If the cars were frequently getting vandalized in shady neighborhoods, they probably wouldn't be frequently routed that way anymore.
It's not a weird corner case for the female co-worker with whom I was discussing self-driving cars. I'm generally very optimistic about the positive impact SDCs will have upon society and I was surprised when my enthusiasm was met with her statement, "I will never own a self-driving car."
Her main concern was safety. Regardless of "shady neighborhood" or just someone looking to hurt her in a better neighborhood - the concept of not having some kind of easy manual way to get out of danger made the SDC a non-starter concept for her.
I have to admit that after that conversation with her, the helpless lack of control of the SDC has figured more highly in my thinking about the subject.
Its pretty sad that people really feel this way in the modern world (Note: not them, but that they feel this way). Not that you said you were living in a similar world to myself but I guess I can see that more vulnerable people might feel that way in some parts of the world.
In defence of the world with self driving cars, I could say that
- you could specify the route (not via the bad part of town please), just as you currently can
- the passengers would not necessarily be on display so a vulnerable passenger is not as exposed
- the self driving car does not necessarily need to allow the doors to be opened from outside
- the self driving car could choose to value the passengers safety over third parties interfering with normal operation
- the self driving car could log/stream a whole lot of data about any such third parties
- the self driving car could summon assistance (police, or private security)
- the owners of the self driving car would not be motivated to allow it to frequent areas known for issues which may cause damage
- as the passenger of a self driving car with a weapon, you can focus on fighting off intruders while the car drives to safety
What about people who have no choice but to live in a shady neighborhood? In that case, the car really just needs to handle dangerous situations properly.
The alternative is not being able to get a car ride in the self-driving-only future unless you live in a nice neighborhood, which is exciting...
If people in a neighborhood are using the cars, the nasty people planning on obstructing the vehicle to detain the passenger probably won't target the cars in that neighborhood.
Not sure, but I've accreted the idea that it's against the law for a taxi company to not serve certain neighborhoods. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
My intent was to focus on frequent attacks on self driving cars being unlikely, sorry I didn't worry over the phrasing.
(There's also the thing where I can think owners of self driving vehicles will do things to protect the vehicles without necessarily agreeing with or liking those things.)
edit: and there's the thing where routing around danger would in fact protect the passengers along with the car.
