Disanalogical Discourse on Trolley Problem for Autonomous Vehicles

Taking Exception: Philosophy of Technology as a Multidimensional Problem Space

Foundations of Science ◽

10.1007/s10699-020-09735-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dominic Smith

Keyword(s):

Autonomous Vehicles ◽

Philosophy Of Technology ◽

Trolley Problem ◽

Problem Space ◽

Google Street View ◽

Multidimensional Problem ◽

Street View ◽

Made In

AbstractThis essay develops three key claims made in my 2018 book, Exceptional Technologies. Part one argues for ‘trivialising the transcendental’, to remove stigmas attached to the word ‘transcendental’ in philosophy in general and philosophy of technology in particular. Part two outlines the concept of ‘exceptional technologies’. These are artefacts and practices that show up as limit cases for our received pictures of what constitutes a ‘technology’ (what I refer to as our ‘pictures of method’) and that force us to reassess the conditions for the possibility of these pictures. I focus on the case of autonomous vehicles here, arguing that Google Street View provides a relatively better picture for approaching philosophical issues at stake than the famous ‘Trolley Problem’. Part three then concludes with a focus on Heidegger’s ‘Question Concerning Technology’ essay. Heidegger asserts that philosophical questioning ‘builds a way’ (1977: 3). I argue that philosophical approaches to technologies might better be considered in terms of a multidimensional problem space.

Download Full-text

Autonomous Driving Ethics: from Trolley Problem to Ethics of Risk

Philosophy & Technology ◽

10.1007/s13347-021-00449-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maximilian Geisslinger ◽

Franziska Poszler ◽

Johannes Betz ◽

Christoph Lütge ◽

Markus Lienkamp

Keyword(s):

Trajectory Planning ◽

Autonomous Vehicles ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Autonomous Driving ◽

Moral Dilemmas ◽

Equal Treatment ◽

Trolley Problem ◽

Ethical Guidelines ◽

Ethical Theories ◽

Industrial Sectors

AbstractIn 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.

Download Full-text

Economic Rationality and Ethical Values in Design-Defect Analysis: The Trolley Problem and Autonomous Vehicles

10.31228/osf.io/pr3ek ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

W. Bradley Wendel

Keyword(s):

Moral Philosophy ◽

Autonomous Vehicles ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Thought Experiment ◽

Autonomous Vehicle ◽

Strict Liability ◽

Trolley Problem ◽

Products Liability ◽

The Third ◽

Design Defect

The trolley problem is a well-known thought experiment in moral philosophy, used to explore issues such as rights, deontological reasons, and intention and the doctrine of double effect. Recently it has featured prominently in popular discussions of decision making by autonomous vehicle systems. For example, a Mercedes-Benz executive stated that, if faced with the choice between running over a child that had unexpectedly darted into the road and steering suddenly, causing a rollover accident that would kill the driver, an automated Mercedes would opt to kill the child. This paper considers not the ethical issues raised by such dilemmas, but the liability of vehicle manufacturers for injuries that foreseeably result from the design of autonomous systems. Some of the recent commentary on the liability of autonomous vehicle manufacturers suggests unfamiliarity with modern products liability law, particularly the design-defect standard in the Third Restatement of Torts. A superficial understanding of products liability principles – for example, believing it is a regime of strict liability in any meaningful sense – can lead to serious errors in the application of this area of law to autonomous vehicles. It is also a mistake to believe that the economic approach to negligence liability, as developed by Posner and Calabresi, accurately characterizes modern products liability principles. Under the Third Restatement approach, a court or jury will consider whether a product embodies a reasonable balance of safety and utility, and “reasonable” can be interpreted in accordance with ordinary community ethical standards. Thus, some of the issues that are central to resolving trolley problems in moral philosophy may actually recur in design-defect litigation.

Download Full-text

Recognize Everyone’s Interests: An Algorithm for Ethical Decision-Making about Trade-Off Problems

Business Ethics Quarterly ◽

10.1017/beq.2020.29 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-24

Author(s):

Tobey K. Scharding

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Autonomous Vehicles ◽

Ethical Decision ◽

Ethical Decision Making ◽

Trolley Problem ◽

Loss Of Life ◽

Trade Off ◽

Group I ◽

Equal Concern ◽

Do So

This article addresses a dilemma about autonomous vehicles: how to respond to trade-off scenarios in which all possible responses involve the loss of life but there is a choice about whose life or lives are lost. I consider four options: kill fewer people, protect passengers, equal concern for survival, and recognize everyone’s interests. I solve this dilemma via what I call the new trolley problem, which seeks a rationale for the intuition that it is unethical to kill a smaller number of people to avoid killing a greater number of people based on numbers alone. I argue that killing a smaller number of people to avoid killing a greater number of people based on numbers alone is unethical because it disrespects the humanity of the individuals in the smaller-numbered group. I defend the recognize-everyone’s-interests algorithm, which will probably kill fewer people but will not do so based on numbers alone.

Download Full-text

The Trolley Problem Version of Autonomous Vehicles

The Open Transportation Journal ◽

10.2174/18744478018120100105 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 105-113 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Yair Wiseman ◽

Ilan Grinberg

Keyword(s):

Data Structures ◽

Spatial Data ◽

Autonomous Vehicles ◽

Autonomous Vehicle ◽

Trolley Problem ◽

Spatial Data Structures ◽

Bounding Volumes ◽

Human Driver ◽

Ethics Dilemma

Introduction:The Trolley problem is a very well-known ethics dilemma about actively killing one or sometimes even more persons in order to save a number of persons. The problem can occur in autonomous vehicles when the vehicle realizes that there is no way to prevent a collision, the computer of the vehicle should analyze which collision is considered to be the least harmful collision.Method and Result:In this paper, we suggest a method to evaluate the likely harmfulness of each sort of collision using Spatial Data Structures and Bounding Volumes and accordingly to decide which course of actions would be the less harmful and therefore should be chosen by the autonomous vehicle.Conclusion:The aim of this paper is to emphasize that the “Trolley Problem” occurs when the human driver is replaced by a robot and if a moral answer is given by an authoritative and legitimate board of experts, it can be coded in autonomous vehicle software.

Download Full-text