17 HARRY POTTER AND THE SELF-DRIVING CAR

On June 30, 2016, one week after the publication of our article in Science, I was at the Museum of Natural History in Toulouse, France. The Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse had rented the location for its annual party, an opportunity to say goodbye to researchers leaving the institute for other climes after having spent years among us. I was looking forward to this moment of relaxation after a marathon of interviews about self-driving cars and their dilemmas. In the museum gardens, a glass of champagne in my hand, I was basking in conversations that had nothing to do with car accidents. Just at that instant, my phone started vibrating wildly. Tesla had announced the first fatal accident involving a vehicle in autonomous mode.