Germany adopts first ethics standards for autonomous driving systems
In the 1960’s and 1970’s there were many efforts to professionalize software development and bring it line with other engineering practices. This would include things like license boards, a code of ethics, etc. Obviously at first blush this sounds ridiculous, but like Wikipedia it seems to not work in theory but when it comes to the real world work just fine (as the other engineering disciplines have shown). This is actually where the term “software engineer” dates from, it was partly a marketing &#x2F; professionalization attempt.<p>One thing this would lead to (could be good or bad) is people being “stripped” of their license to practice software engineering. After the 1981 Hyatt Regency disaster in Kansas City, where over 200 people were killed, this is exactly what happened to the engineers involved in building the walkway. They forgot the software equivalent of a line-ending semicolon when they eliminated a single-support bolt for the catwalk accidentally during design review. It collapsed during a holiday party, killing those above and those below. Perhaps as we start seeing more “building computers”, sometimes called “architectural robotics” (a super fascinating subject if you have a chance to look it up, there are already prototypes out there), a software engineer causing a similar amount of destruction might not be so farfetched.