Skip to main content
Book cover

International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics

AHFE 2018: Advances in Human Factors and Systems Interaction pp 101–108Cite as

Moving Forward with Autonomous Systems: Ethical Dilemmas

Part of the Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing book series (AISC,volume 781)

Abstract

Automation has improved transportation systems in various domains over the last several decades. Increasing autonomy in these systems has gradually reduced the role of the human operator to that of system monitor with the ultimate goal of eliminating the human from the control system entirely. Commercial aviation has benefited from automation, but it operates with the support of a broad infrastructure of safety when compared to vehicular road traffic. While not designed to operate in a fully autonomous mode, the computer, sensor, and software technology developed for aircraft are being applied to self-driving cars with the expectation that driving will also see significant improvements in accident rates and efficiency through the elimination of human error and negligence [1]. A sophisticated combination of hardware sensors and computer software analyzes the environment and controls the speed and direction of the car without input from its human occupants and their opaque interactions increase the complexity of the system. This approach has potential benefits but also potential problems. Autonomous vehicles will present ethical challenges while being developed and after deployment. The purpose of this paper is to consider the many ethical implications involved with the implementation and oversight of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology. This paper examines primary ethical dilemmas present in the use of autonomous cars including liability and moral agency.

Keywords

  • Autonomous
  • Cars
  • Ethics

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-94334-3_12
  • Chapter length: 8 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-319-94334-3
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 1.

(Source: Aysen Taylor)

Fig. 2.

(Source: Evtimov et al. [16])

References

  1. Negroni, C.: Lessons from aviation for Tesla and self-driving cars (2016). https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinenegroni/2016/07/07/danger-lurks-at-intersection-of-human-and-self-driving-car/#1d8f66294fd7

  2. Phantom auto will tour city. The Milwaukee Sentinel, p. 14, 8 December 1926. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=unBQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QQ8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7304,3766749

  3. Iagnemma, K.: Why we have the ethics of self-driving cars all wrong (2018). https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/why-we-have-the-ethics-of-self-driving-cars-all-wrong/

  4. Rahwan, I.: The Social Dilemma Of Driverless Cars [Video file], 16 November 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhCh1pBsS80

  5. Bonnefon, J., Shariff, A., Rahwan, I.: The social dilemma of autonomous vehicles. Science 352, 1573–1576 (2016)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  6. Parasuraman, R., Riley, V.: Humans and automation: use, misuse, disuse, abuse. Hum. Factors 39(2), 230–253 (1997)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  7. Endsley, M.R.: Level of automation: integrating humans and automated systems. In: Proceedings of the human factors and ergonomics society. Ergonomics Society, pp. 200–204 (1997). http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/107118139704100146

  8. Bigelow, P.: Don’t call it autopilot, German authorities tell Tesla. Car and Driver, 17 October 2016. https://blog.caranddriver.com/dont-call-it-autopilot-german-authorities-tell-tesla/

  9. National Tesla crash report (2017). https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2016/INCLA-PE16007-7876.PDF

  10. Dorsey, R.: A complete streets law for Baltimore: a design solution to a transportation crisis (2017). https://www.baltimorecompletestreets.com/policy-brief/

  11. Fagnant, D.J., Kockelman, K.: Preparing a nation for autonomous vehicles: opportunities, barriers and policy recommendations. Transp. Res. Part A: Policy Pract. 77, 167–181 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Motor vehicle deaths in 2016 estimated to be highest in nine years (2017). http://www.nsc.org/Connect/NSCNewsReleases/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=180

  13. Stimpson, J.P., Wilson, F.A., Araz, O.M., Pagan, J.A.: Share of mass transit miles traveled and reduced motor vehicle fatalities in major cities of the United States. J. Urban Health 91, 1136–1143 (2014)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  14. Ethics commission automated and connected driving (2017). https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/EN/publications/report-ethics-commission.pdf?__blob=publicationFile

  15. iGadgetPro. Elon Musk on disadvantages of self driving cars TED 2017 [Video file], 1 May 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_cnISo_Qxk

  16. Evtimov, I., Eykholt, K., Fernandes, E., Kohno, T., Li, B., Prakash, A., Rahmati, A., Song, D.: Robost physical-world attacks on deep learning models. Cryptogr. Secur. (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Weiland, J., Rucks, G., Walker, J.: How the U.S. transportation system can save $1 trillion, 2 billion barrels of oil, and 1 gigaton of carbon emissions (2015). https://www.rmi.org/news/u-s-transportation-system-can-save-1-trillion-2-billion-barrels-oil-1-gigaton-carbon-emissions-annually/

  18. Balakrishnan, A.: Self-driving cars could cost America’s professional drivers up to 25,000 jobs a month, Goldman Sachs says (2017). https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/22/goldman-sachs-analysis-of-autonomous-vehicle-job-loss.html

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA

    Aysen K. Taylor & Sarah Bouazzaoui

Authors
  1. Aysen K. Taylor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sarah Bouazzaoui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aysen K. Taylor .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science and Technology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal

    Prof. Isabel L. Nunes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this paper

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Taylor, A.K., Bouazzaoui, S. (2019). Moving Forward with Autonomous Systems: Ethical Dilemmas. In: Nunes, I. (eds) Advances in Human Factors and Systems Interaction. AHFE 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 781. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94334-3_12

Download citation