Moral problem:
- Should the driver or a group of people/a child be prioritized in situations where death cannot be avouded
- Should a group of people/a child be prioritized even if this results in fewer people buying the vehicle. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to overall reduce the number of accidents.
The moral agents:
- The manufacturer/programmers
- Potential car buyers
- The owner of the vehicle
Stakeholders:
- Manufacturer: Wants people to buy their cars
- Traffic participants and pedestrians: Want maximize safety, minimize risk of accidents
- Buyer/driver: Wants to increase their own chances of survival in a potential accident
- Friends and relatives of the above parties (practically everyone in society): Fewer and less deadly accidents
Moral values at stake:
- Life, health, happiness
- Conflict:
- Egoistics will to value own life
- Minimize total harm/maximize happiness
- Choosing which life is more valuable
Potential options:
- Let driver select "mode" of car.
- Good in libertarian principles
- Moral problem is moved to the driver
- Let driver decide, but with incentives (lower taxes, other priviledges, ...)
- The incentives potentially increase inequalities in society (class differences, ...)
- Fewer choose the "egoist mode" -> more overall profit
- Don't program cars to kill
- Bad from utilitarian approach. Just brake.
- Avoids active choice of swerving, by passive choice of braking. But is braking really a passive choice?
What are relevant facts?
- Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are allowed to kill driver:
- Fewer people buy AVs (supported by study) -> leading to more accidents
- Utailtarian approach (supported by study)
- Driver has choice (with optional incentives)
- Some might still choose utalitarian alternative
- Shaming for choosing egoistic alternative in media
- AVs must value drivers life over life of others
- Worse from utalitarian perspective
Ethical evaluation:
- Consequential ethics:
- Preference utilitarianism:
- Allowed to kill driver: Low acceptability
- Driver has choice: High acceptability
- Prioritize driver: Medium acceptability
- Hedonistic/rule utilitarianism:
- Allowed to kill driver: High acceptability
- Driver has choice: Medium acceptability
- Prioritize driver: Low acceptability
- Deontological ethics:
- Freedom:
- Allowed to kill driver: Medium acceptability
- Driver has choice: Medium acceptability
- Prioritize driver: Medium acceptability
- Virtue ethics:
- Allowed to kill driver: High acceptability
- Driver has choice: Medium acceptability
- Prioritize driver: Low acceptability
- Our moral intuition:
- Varying opinions in the group
Conclusion
- Driver has choice