Self-Driving Vehicles: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Topic:
A self driving car has to make a snap decision: swerve to avoid children in the street, killing the car's occupant...or save the occupant and mow down the kids. Who makes that programming decision? The car's manufacturer? The government? The insurance company? Autonomous vehicles hold great promise for society. But there are also risks and ethical questions, such as the "Trolley Problem" along with societal implications and hurdles, the regulatory environment, and the value (or range of values) of a human life.
Readings:
MIT Moral Machine: Link to Reading
Why autonomous vehicles will make the world a better place, and how the technology works (video): Link to Reading
U.S. government endorsement of autonomous vehicle technology: Link to Reading
Mercedes declares that their self-driving cars will always protect the drivers: Link to Reading
Mercedes backtracks after significant backlash: Link to Reading
Insights from research & discussions at Stanford: Link to Reading
Discussion Questions:
If fully-autonomous vehicles were available today for an affordable price, would you buy one? Ride in one?
What stood out to you from the MIT Moral Machine experiment? How can this data be used in development of autonomous vehicles?
Should trolley problem choices be programmed explicitly by each car manufacturer? What role does the government have in centralizing these decision-making processes? To what degree should riders have agency in how their car will drive?
Can you think of any of analogs to this “trolley problem” that have reached a societally-acceptable solution? How can we apply this societal acceptance to autonomous vehicles?
Given that the state-of-the-art in car technology cannot perfectly replicate the trolley problem, how will technical advances in car dynamics and safety change the way we think about this dilemma, if at all?
What second-order effects could result from a societal shift to driverless cars? Organ donations drop? Less incentive to avoid drinking? National security implications? Privacy concerns?
