Ethical Issues with Self-Driving Cars
Picture yourself 20 years down the road, cruising along in your self-driving car without a care in the world. As you pass through an intersection a tanker truck, incorrectly filled, suddenly tips.
Your car will swerve out of the way, but oh no. On your right side, a group of high schoolers walking home. On your left, a group of bicyclists wearing helmets. Suppose both groups are in the possible swerve paths of your car and would be hit.
What does your car do? Who does it give the most risk to?
It could attempt to break and slam into the tanker, effectively giving only one person, you, the risk. It could swerve into the high schoolers, relying on their youth to provide them with enough agility to get out of the way or survive an impact. Finally, it could swerve into the bicyclists assuming that their helmets may reduce the risk of serious injury.
An oddly specific and unlikely example, I know, but it emphasizes a point. Humans are reactive. If you were manually driving a car and that tanker flipped, your foot is already on the break and you’re swerving to whichever direction would save your skin. Our brain is wired to keep us alive in dangerous scenarios, it’s only natural.
It’s not a “pedestrians be damned” reaction, but it’s just that: a reaction. We don’t have time to take in…
