Franken-algorithms: The Deadly Consequences of Unpredictable Code

A new form of algorithm is moving into the world, which has the capability to rewrite bits of its own code. The 18th of March 2018 was the day tech insiders had been dreading. That night, a new moon added almost no light to a poorly lit four-lane road in Tempe, AZ, as a specially adapted Uber Volvo XC90 detected an object ahead. Part of the modern gold rush to develop self-driving vehicles, the SUV had been driving autonomously, with no input from its human backup driver, for 19 minutes. An array of radar and light-emitting lidar sensors allowed onboard algorithms to calculate that, given their host vehicle's steady speed of 43mph, the object was six seconds away--assuming it remained stationary.