Is it possible to address ethical issues and ensure trust in the new technology?
Nowadays, major technology giants and car manufacturers are investing in self-driving vehicles programmes and claim that their introduction will follow with significant improvements in safety, mobility and efficiency. However, researchers argue the necessity of a public debate before unintended negative consequences for the public and the environment; one of the issues concerns the moral dilemmas linked to the vehicles artificial intelligence.
A human being, driving a car, might be put in a situation to make a moral choice. For example, for a pedestrian who suddenly crosses the road, a driver could decide to hit the breaks and hope for the best, or dodge, shifting the danger from the pedestrian to himself or other road users. Then, an artificial intelligence driving a car must be instructed to act in such situations.
In democracy is the will of the majority that counts, and according to this principle, a series of standard behavioural procedures should be defined for regulation and safety. However, writing a universal 'code' for self-driving vehicles might be more complicated than we think. The biggest survey about that matter, named 'moral machine', involved 2.3 million people around the globe.
The survey presented thirteen scenarios where the death of someone was inevitable and showed that ethical choices vary from country to country. Wealthiest countries with a high legality culture preferred to spare driver's life over a pedestrian who crosses a road illegally. Nations with higher economic inequality were more keen to 'sacrifice' the lower-status people. Some chose to spare the youngest, others to save as many as possible or not to act.
Researchers identified a strong relationship between social and economic factors and the results of the survey. Although it is not very likely to bump into those extreme scenarios very often during our daily activities, the study is useful to analyse other moral judgements made routinely, such as the decision to veer away from cyclists on a curvy mountain road.
Those decisions might be made by driverless cars very soon: at least five manufacturers are aiming to spread this technology widely by 2021. Self-driving vehicles might reduce the number of accidents in the future; nevertheless, they will undoubtedly receive more attention in case of fatal events. Hence an urgent public discussion is necessary, to gain social consensus, determine the risks we are willing to take, and solve the liability dilemma.
#Transportation #driverless #autonomous #Planning
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