The Moral Challenges Of Driverless Cars Analysis
Hi everyone,
For my summary I chose an article called 'The Moral Challenges of Driverless Cars' by Keith Kirkpatrick. I picked this article because my aim is to do my thesis on the ethics of self-driving cars, and Kirkpatrick gives a good general introduction to the topic. In doing so, he highlights potential issues, as well as the likely benefits that drive the development of self-driving cars.
I like the topic because it is a practical ethical problem which has real world implications. And given that large companies such as Google and BMW and working on such technology, with Google saying that they aim to have self-driving cars on the market within five years, it is a pressing issue.
Link to article below.
Cheers,
Stephen
Summary: …show more content…
Given that such technology is a recent development, philosophical work on the topic is in its infancy. However, due to the rate at which technology advances, this issue is timely, and Kirkpatrick gives a good overview of the ethics of self-driving …show more content…
As such, we will eventually reach a stage where we must decide how to program self-driving cars to respond to an unavoidable accident. In such events, drivers are typically faced with a split-second choice involving at least two less than desirable outcomes. However, with self-driving cars, we are forced to explicitly determine the rules by which such cars will act when confronted with an accident scenario, which is the crux of the ethics of self-driving cars.
In terms of programming, Kirkpatrick offers an example of possible rules which a self-driving car could be programmed to follow. Namely, self-driving cars could be set to prioritise the safety of its occupants. Or, they could be programmed to choose the course of action that has the most likelihood of resulting in the least amount of harm for all those involved in an accident. For example, faced with a wayward pedestrian, a self-driving car could discern that the likelihood of injury is lowest for al involved if it swerves into a telephone pole in order to miss the unprotected
For my summary I chose an article called 'The Moral Challenges of Driverless Cars' by Keith Kirkpatrick. I picked this article because my aim is to do my thesis on the ethics of self-driving cars, and Kirkpatrick gives a good general introduction to the topic. In doing so, he highlights potential issues, as well as the likely benefits that drive the development of self-driving cars.
I like the topic because it is a practical ethical problem which has real world implications. And given that large companies such as Google and BMW and working on such technology, with Google saying that they aim to have self-driving cars on the market within five years, it is a pressing issue.
Link to article below.
Cheers,
Stephen
Summary: …show more content…
Given that such technology is a recent development, philosophical work on the topic is in its infancy. However, due to the rate at which technology advances, this issue is timely, and Kirkpatrick gives a good overview of the ethics of self-driving …show more content…
As such, we will eventually reach a stage where we must decide how to program self-driving cars to respond to an unavoidable accident. In such events, drivers are typically faced with a split-second choice involving at least two less than desirable outcomes. However, with self-driving cars, we are forced to explicitly determine the rules by which such cars will act when confronted with an accident scenario, which is the crux of the ethics of self-driving cars.
In terms of programming, Kirkpatrick offers an example of possible rules which a self-driving car could be programmed to follow. Namely, self-driving cars could be set to prioritise the safety of its occupants. Or, they could be programmed to choose the course of action that has the most likelihood of resulting in the least amount of harm for all those involved in an accident. For example, faced with a wayward pedestrian, a self-driving car could discern that the likelihood of injury is lowest for al involved if it swerves into a telephone pole in order to miss the unprotected