3. We are in an age of artificial intelligence. Someday very soon there will be many self-driving cars. Programmers and ethics counsel at self-driving car companies will surely confront “The Trolley Problem” discussed in class.
4. Your essay should address the issue of how those companies should address “The Trolley Problem” in the computer driven split-second decision-making mechanism of a self-driving car.
5. Watch the following TED Ed talk on the Ethical Issues of Self-Driving Cars: https://www.ted.com/talks/patrick_lin_the_ethical_dilemma_of_self_driving_cars
6. A self-driving car is barreling down the highway within the 65 MPH speed
limit. You are alone in the car. A truck is being driven directly in front of
the self-driving car in the same lane of traffic. A large metal box falls from the truck directly in front of the self-driving car. In the lane to the right of the self-driving car is a very compact car (maybe a Fiat 500) with a driver and one small child in a car seat in the back seat. The small car has a sign in the back window, “BABY ON BOARD.” The computer in the self-driving car knows the compact car contains a driver and a baby passenger. In the lane to the left of the self-driving car is a very large SUV (perhaps
some type of Hummer). There is no sign on the car, but the computer in the self-driving car knows that the SUV contains a driver and 8 passengers. The computer in the self-driving car needs to make a split-second decision on how it will react to the large metal box that just fell in the same lane in front of the self-driving car. Assume there is no way it can just stop in time to
avoid the collision.
7. Consider the following 3 options as to how the computer in the self-driving
car reacts:
Option A – The self-driving car applies Strict Outcome Ethics in its purest form and causes the least amount of harm by going straight ahead, but killing you as the person in the self-driving car. (killing 1 person instead of the 2 in the compact car or the 9 in the SUV).
Option B – The self-driving car applies Modified Outcome Ethics, with an override that the self-driving car ALWAYS protects the self-driving car and its passengers first. The self-driving car will swerve to the right killing the driver and baby passenger in the compact car. (killing the 2 people in the compact car, but sparing you and the 9 people in the SUV).
Option C – The self-driving car’s choice is totally Random Ethics, much like it would be if the car was being driven by a person. They stay straight or swerve as an automatic decision at random.
8. If the car is programmed as in Option A, would you buy the car and use it? Why or why not?
9. If the car is programmed as in Option B, would you buy it and use it? Why or why not?
10. Is there a better way forward? If yes, propose how the self-driving car should be programmed.
11. Your essay is going to be submitted to the editors of a well-read magazine. The editors will be considering your essay for publication. You should assume the reader has no knowledge about ethics or any issues relating to self-driving cars. Do not change the facts. Remember this is being written for publication in a magazine; and the potential reader knows nothing about this issue. This is your chance to explain the situation, the concept of outcome ethics, the dilemma and, maybe, a possible solution.
