SECTION SPECIFIC SCENARIO
Congratulations, you have been invited for an interview with a company at the forefront of self-driving
(autonomous) vehicles. As part of the interview process, you have been asked to write a memorandum
guiding the vehicle’s design team with respect to the following scenario:
• A vehicle is traveling down a path where five (5) people (a diverse group of college students), none of
whom can get out of the way, will die immediately upon impact should the vehicle continue straight
on the current designated path.
There are two possible alternatives that would result in saving the five
(5) lives :
(i) adjust the vehicle path, but by doing so, the one person on that path, your college professor will die immediately upon impact; or (ii) eject a passenger from the vehicle causing
the immediate death of such passenger while saving the life of the others in the pathways.
When examining the above scenario, consider the “actor” responsible for acting:
(i) an actual driver; (ii) an
engineer, who pre-programed a vehicle’s response; or (iii) the “embedded ‘artificial intelligence’” in the
vehicle’s system, which is based upon a machine learning algorithm.
Your memorandum should include an identification of the constituent interests and their preferences,
evaluate each potential option from each constituent interests’ perspective, the feasibility of the options, and
the option you select.
You must also:
• Explains your rationale for your choice – it is important to provide in detail your choice;
• Evaluates your choice using an ethical paradigm or, if necessary, two ethical paradigms – it is
important to provide in detail the applicable ethical paradigm(s);
• Evaluates your choice from the perspective of corporate social responsibility (“CSR”), including
explaining CSR; and
• Evaluates your choice for its implications on “justice:” equity, diversity, and inclusions, as well as any
potential governmental responses to your choice.
