Autonomous Driving Ethics: from Trolley Problem to Ethics of Risk

Philosophy and Technology 34 (4):1033-1055 (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In 2017, the German ethics commission for automated and connected driving released 20 ethical guidelines for autonomous vehicles. It is now up to the research and industrial sectors to enhance the development of autonomous vehicles based on such guidelines. In the current state of the art, we find studies on how ethical theories can be integrated. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no framework for motion planning has yet been published which allows for the true implementation of any practical ethical policies. This paper makes four contributions: Firstly, we briefly present the state of the art based on recent works concerning unavoidable accidents of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and identify further need for research. While most of the research focuses on decision strategies in moral dilemmas or crash optimization, we aim to develop an ethical trajectory planning for all situations on public roads. Secondly, we discuss several ethical theories and argue for the adoption of the theory “ethics of risk.” Thirdly, we propose a new framework for trajectory planning, with uncertainties and an assessment of risks. In this framework, we transform ethical specifications into mathematical equations and thus create the basis for the programming of an ethical trajectory. We present a risk cost function for trajectory planning that considers minimization of the overall risk, priority for the worst-off and equal treatment of people. Finally, we build a connection between the widely discussed trolley problem and our proposed framework.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The German Ethics Code for Automated and Connected Driving.Christoph Luetge - 2017 - Philosophy and Technology 30 (4):547-558.
Autonomous vehicles, trolley problems, and the law.Stephen S. Wu - 2020 - Ethics and Information Technology 22 (1):1-13.
Trust and resilient autonomous driving systems.Adam Henschke - 2020 - Ethics and Information Technology 22 (1):81-92.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-04-12

Downloads
46 (#304,991)

6 months
11 (#128,523)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?