Self-Driving Car Ethical Dilemmas

Algorithms of Life and Death: The Ethics of Self-Driving Cars

Research Question

Self-driving cars will inevitably have to face the decision of who to protect in the event of a road accident. Whilst human drivers are forced to make split-second decisions when confronted with an imminent accident, self-driving cars will be programmed with algorithms that will direct their actions when faced with such incidents. For example, when confronted with a wayward pedestrian, a self-driving car may have two courses of action: protect its occupant, or take evasive action to save the pedestrian, though at considerable risk to the occupant's life. Thus, the core question of my proposed research arises:

How should self-driving cars be programmed to react

An additional point of consideration will be the public reaction to proposed algorithms. As one of the desirable, if not most desirable, aspects fuelling the development of self-driving cars is their great potential for significantly reducing the amount of injury and death on the roads, we need to factor the opinions of potential consumers into the ethical mix. That is, if we propose an algorithm that will sacrifice the occupant of a self-driving car so as to protect a greater number of wayward pedestrians, we would likely see people unwilling to buy or travel in self-driving cars, thus negating the goal of self-driving vehicle proponents. Thus, it is clear that once we begin to scratch the surface of the question as to how we ought to program self-driving cars to respond to accidents, the question is more complex and multi-faceted that might be anticipated. Subsequently, given the goals of companies such as Google, to see such vehicles on the road in the near future, it is of great importance that we begin to deal with the associated ethical problems as soon as