Though robots will make our lives easier, we will be risking our lives in future if we trust a robot to do 100% of the work for us. The three articles on Auto autos , should driverless cars kill their passengers , and can we create an ethical robot , presents to us a very tricky situation regarding ethical issues.
Some philosophers believe that the car should damage it to save people, it is a fact that driverless cars have a lot of advantages. Currently, we have semi-automatic vehicles where we are still able to control them. It has advanced features like forward-collision warning system- this system alerts the driver in case there is any danger in front and even the car brakes itself when it comes close to a car in front. There is technology such as a lane departure warning and blind spot monitoring systems. These technologies have helped a lot to reduce accidents on our roads. It is no doubt that these technologies will be integrated into driverless cars being developed.
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The majority of accidents are due to human errors. With driverless cars traffic congestion will be eased, this is because the cars will go at a steady and safe speed. Whenever there is heavy traffic, construction or an accident the car will look for an alternative route.
There is a factual situation where a car makes a decision that can put others in danger due to avoidable circumstances or external factors. Let’s take an example where a child was playing then a ball rolls towards the road, the child goes to pick the ball, then the driverless car swerves and hits an oncoming vehicle killing all its occupants.
Some facts occur in everyday life, like bad weather for example, or an ongoing construction. How will driverless cars act in such situations?
Driverless cars and ethical issues will come with ethical issues and legal dilemmas. We all agree that driverless cars will reduce a lot of accidents caused by human error. But hazards are inevitable. Risks can be caused by pedestrians, pets, road conditions, cyclists, and obstructions. Though the cars will be fully automatic, the driver should be responsible enough to make decisions that will not cause a lot of hazards.
A time a car can hit a pedestrian or a dog if it does not break in time. This is because it will run whichever it has been programmed to run. Cars are processed to identify their environment. This means that it has alternatives to make decisions. This is a very tricky ethical situation. Should killing one person be justified to save a life of another person?
What about if a child is running to remove his/her ball on the road. Should the car decide to swerve to a cliff with you and your family inside it? You can arrive at a parking spot first, as you are waiting to park your car, a driverless vehicle comes there and parks itself, how would you feel in such situation.
Designing the robots to obey every rule is not safe for us. There are situations where such laws need to be broken to save lives. Imagine a driverless car following a speed limit of 55 miles an hour while it poses some danger to its occupants, for example, the average traffic is 75 miles.
There is also an ethical issue which philosophers argue that; in case of an inevitable situation where a driverless car has to choose between killing the driver or pedestrian, bystanders should not be hurt in any case. Many of them argued that in case of anything the car should always swerve and kill the passengers if it means saving the pedestrians. Merely because they boarded the vehicle knowing that it is driverless.
Who should the driverless cars hit?
The moral question as to who the driverless car should hit is an issue of concern. One of the leading guides for such instances is to have the car make the decisions based on the legal aspects. Who is using the road correctly? If an elderly is using the road wrongly, say crossing a no crosswalk but a child crossing the road on a crosswalk, then the driverless car should hit the wrongdoer. The assumption here is that the driverless car has failed.
Another criterion to use is to weigh the number of people do so as less number of casualties will be experienced. If there are five children crossing the road on one side but 2 adults on another side, then the car should just swerve and hit the two elderly people and save five lives.
Who decides?
The person who decides these will be the computer authority who will handle the ethical aspects of driverless cars. As driverless cars gain popularity, there will be bodies which will be formed to regulate the operations of these cars.
Having looked at both the advantages and disadvantages of driverless cars, Auto autos, and ethical robots, they should not be left to operate themselves 100%. This is because, in case of danger, the results can be very hazardous which could not have been the case if the driver could control the car manually.
