Ethical Problems Of Autonomous Cars

The moral and ethical implications of the driverless cars like all other ethical issues have both pros and cons. This paper will underscore both sides [positive and negative] of the moral implications that will arise as a result of driverless or robotic cars. Two sides to the argument are presented with proponents’ belief that driverless cars will be much safer than cars driven by distracted and preoccupied humans. On the other hand, since no technology or system is perfect – who will be liable when a robot car crashes into someone? These and other moral issues will be explored.

Self driving vehicles is a huge change in our society. We are taking the next step into the future and creating something bigger than ever. Driverless cars can be a good thing and a bad thing in todays society. We depend on so many things now, the older we get and the more time goes on, the lazier we get. Being Americans, we are putting our thoughts and ideas to the ultimate test to create something so dangerous but so efficient. We have thought of ideas that would make our lives "easier" and less stressful. In this paper I will describe how driverless cars work, the current problems and setbacks that we are having, and how this new technology is being put to use today.

“Ninety percent of our road accidents are related to bad driving behavior; driving recklessly and speeding under the influence of alcohol, changing lanes without signaling, driving on the hard shoulder and passing through red lights.” -Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Commander in chief of the Dubai Police (Olarte, 2011). The majority of car crashes are caused by human errors, and if this proposition is implemented, the number of fatalities due to car accidents per year will dramatically plummet. In 2012, a Google driverless car had driven over 300,000 miles, with only two accidents being reported, both of which had been a human’s fault (Emerson, 2012). Autonomous cars will have quicker reflexes than humans, make more reliable judgments and will not commit silly mistakes such as texting whilst driving. As a collateral for reducing accidents, this innovation could theoretically also save the government trillions of dollars each year.

The primary concern with transportation is safety; hence the most obvious and largest benefit to the replacement of regular cars with self-driving cars is the decrease in traffic collisions. “Ninety percent of our road accidents are related to bad driving behavior; driving recklessly and speeding under the influence of alcohol, changing lanes without signaling, driving on the hard shoulder and passing through red lights.” -Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Commander in chief of the Dubai Police (Olarte, 2011). The majority of car crashes is caused by human errors, and if this proposition is implemented, the number of fatalities due to car accidents per year will dramatically plummet. In 2012, a Google driverless car had driven over 300,000 miles, with only two accidents being reported, both of which had been a human’s fault (Emerson, 2012). Autonomous cars will have quicker reflexes than humans, make more reliable judgments and will not commit silly mistakes such as texting whilst driving. As a collateral for reducing accidents, this innovation could theoretically also save the government

As many people head out to start their days, a good majority will get into their cars and face many split second decisions. As humans when faced with split second decisions, it is impossible to always make the right choice. Autonomous cars are unable to make ethical decisions, such as deciding which way to swerve where both either direction (right or left) could endanger others.

Vehicles that drive themselves is a concept that is often thought about in futuristic movies or science fiction novels. Throughout, history mankind has been fascinated with robots and cars that could work without humans. Advanced technology is getting closer to making these futuristic ideas the real thing. Living in an advanced technological time would society be ready for this to happen and how far away is this from becoming a reality?

A new technology is approaching, and it may change the world forever. Imagine a planet where traffic does not exist and there are no more drunk drivers on the roads putting people’s lives in danger. With the invention of self-driving cars, this dream world can be made into reality. A self-driving car is exactly what it sounds like, a car that operates on its own without a human driver. They have raised many controversies as to whether this invention is good or bad. Many people believe that self-driving cars are a threat to humanity, but it is the complete opposite. Self- Driving Cars will have a positive impact on society for many different reasons.

Since the beginning of self-driving cars which first began in 1925 with the creation of the Houdina Radio Control; a car operated by two cars, a transmitter, and an antenna, to now - the futuristic dream of these autonomous cars have transformed into the reality of cars we see now. These cars are nothing short of the new technology advances that have occurred over the past decade. However, with these advances many question whether or not these cars are ready to be sold, due to the fatal accident that occurred May 2016 involving the autonomous Tesla and a white truck. Due to the Tesla not being able to detect the white tractor because of technological issues, the tesla failed to stop, and since the driver was not prepared to steer, it lead to the fatal collision eventually leading to the death of the tesla owner. With the increase of these cars on the road, from companies like BMW, Daimler, Ford, Apple, Uber, and Google, this poses a serious threat to not only the people operating this autonomous vehicle but also to the surrounding drivers. I believe that autonomous cars should not be put on the road, and that these cars are not beneficial to the population.

Technology continues to take over human beings as it develops. Self driving cars aides us when we drive its sensors and other functions to keep us from the dangers of accidents. These robots follow the code that they are programmed, so they strictly follow what has been told to do before hand. Which makes the aiding process harder for the programmer to code because it entirely depends on the context and they need to code that would suit every single accident. However, when the machine considers how to deal with the accident it needs to decide who to sacrifice or harm in order to maintain beneficence. Consequently leads to a problem from a business point of view. Possible solutions to these ethical issues of self driving cars are based on whether

In addition, the use of AI is quite controversial from an ethics standpoint. The trolley problem is a no-win situation where it is guaranteed that either one person or a group of people will die, based on the choices made by an outsider, who in this case would be the car. If programmed to choose the most utilitarian outcome, the driver of the car would perish in such a scenario. Knowing this information, the requirement of self driving cars could cause an extreme public outcry.

In the instance where death is imminent, the developers for the avoidance patterning would need to have sensors in the car that can read different object to determine the collision that would have the lowest mortality rate. Even if it means sacrificing the occupant of the car to save the lives of many others. When the collision and death are unavoidable, the developers for the avoidance patterning of the self-driving cars would need to develop sensors and cameras that can detect and differentiate between cars and humans. Also, they would need to be able to scan the situation and process its surroundings to make the safest choice possible in any given scenario. If this means putting the driver into the risk to save the lives of many others that could be put in danger trying to save the life of just the cars occupant. The car must be able to determine the situation that would end with the lowest mortality rate, this would mean in urban areas it could mean collisions with parked cars potentially risking the driver’s life if it means saving the pedestrians on the sidewalk. Although both outcomes in this scenario would bring about large amounts of pain and sadness, Mill would argue that the avoidance patterning would have to make the choice that would minimize the pain caused by the accident, and in this case that would be risking the lives of the occupants of the car to save the lives of multiple pedestrians. In this case, it is hard to find any happiness to see which action would be deemed as right, but the happiness of all the pedestrians and their families would receive from being able to live another day would outweigh the happiness received by just saving the

Self-driving cars are every kids dream. Whether they were born 30 years ago, or just celebrated their third birthday, innovation and technology creeps into the dreams of everyone. While this technological advancement once seemed like something larger than life, Google and a small number of other innovating companies are trying to give kids something new to dream about by making these self-driving cars something of reality. While excitement beams at this news, questions beckon as well. Engineers and scientist worldwide are beginning to explore the idea of an autonomous car. Due to the lack of knowledge there is still much caution as to whether society, or science, is ready for this new way of transportation. Self-driving cars lack overall safety and should not be admitted into the automobile market because of the hazards they bring with their under-developed technology, their insufficient amount of testing, and lack of credibility.

Autonomous vehicles are going to transform the way we move. In the next 20 years, we will see many autonomous vehicles in operation across the country. The work that is done now has the opportunity to drive a transformation in the relationship between humans and machines. It is important that we consider the ethical implications of having vehicles operate without the control of humans. While some of the benefits are obvious, there may be some drawbacks to self-driving cars, and we must evaluate the consequences having completely autonomous cars. This paper analyzes the consequences, both good and bad, from a utilitarian standpoint to determine if it is morally ethical for cars to be autonomous. Engineers, car manufacturers, and even lawmakers need to consider all of these things now to design the autonomous vehicle of the future.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that as technology improves, humans may be leaving more and more decision making to robots. We may be far away from the day when we have a robot president, but as I type this many technologies are being built and perfected that have to make choices, some life or death. For example, the self driving car. Let's say that a self driving car is cruising down the road when suddenly two children run in front of it. If it were to swerve to one side it would run into a motorcycle and almost certainly kill the driver, but to swerve the other way would send the car off a cliff, killing the person (or persons) inside. What should it do? It’s a simple question of who to kill, the children, the passenger, or take a chance

This paper was prepared for Social Issues in Computing, CSCE 4010, Section 1, taught by Ian Brooks.