[Monochron]

If the car determines that it MUST collide with one of the two then I think the import decision is not which will cause the most damage, but which will hurt the most people. Quantitative mechanical/monetary damage pails in comparison to human life, and determining which impact will cause more of that is nearly impossible.

For instance what if the more structurally sound car (the Volvo) happens to packed to the gills with newborns? I think the smarter decision in that case is to hit the Cooper, but the car won't be able to know the occupants of the other vehicle in this scenario. So the result will be that it won't attempt to choose which car to hit, it will simply do its best to miss both.

A much less interesting outcome than what the article predicts, but I think it is much more likely than what the article predicts as well.