Dalhousie University

Faculty of Engineering
Department of Civil and Resource Engineering

How can self-driving cars be regulated ethically from safety and

economic standpoints?

Prepared for
James Ross

By
Jose Andres Perez
B00697488

March 15, 2018

Abstract:
Despite the advantages and disadvantages that this new technology could bring to society, an important
issue that needs to be addressed is how the self-driven car will react to situations where an inevitable
accident might occur. When creating the programming algorithm of the computer, who will decide what
set of ethics will be implemented into the programming code. Would it be more ethical if the car should
kill its driver if this could lead to the least potential harm to the surroundings and the majority of the
people or should it follow its original path regardless of the situation? What would be the most ethical
thing to do in such situations? And who would be the one to decide when developing the program of the
car the car’s reaction should be in cases like this?
Table of Contents

1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3
2. Advantages.........................................................................................................................................3
2.1. Saving lives.................................................................................................................................3
2.2. Environment................................................................................................................................3
2.3. Accessibility................................................................................................................................3
3. Disadvantages....................................................................................................................................3
3.1. Unemployment............................................................................................................................4
3.2. Privacy.........................................................................................................................................4
4. Moral Dilemma..................................................................................................................................4
4.1. Imminent accident.......................................................................................................................4
4.2. Ethical choice..............................................................................................................................4
4.3. Who is to decide?.........................................................................................................................4
4.3.1. Programmer/Manufacturer...................................................................................................4
4.3.2. Driver...................................................................................................................................4
5. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................4
6. Reference:...........................................................................................................................................4
1. Introduction

Self-driven cars are seen as a promising business for both the automotive industry and large
technology companies. It is estimated that the number of self-driving cars will continue to increase
around the world in the next following years. The autopilot consists of a series of cameras, radars and
ultrasound sensors that record the environment of the car and are integrated into a software. Thus, the car,
without a person's intervention, is able to maintain the speed and distance from obstacles in the
surrounding, stopping and even parking. This new technology will be able to bring several benefits to
society such as reducing dramatically the number of accidents caused by human errors, saving millions of
lives; as well as reducing gas consumption and pollution levels. Moreover, there will also be negative
outcomes due to the introduction of this technology such as an increase in unemployment where jobs are
dependant on human drivers.

However, despite the advantages and disadvantages that this new technology could bring to society,
an important issue that needs to be addressed is how the self-driven car will react to situations where an
inevitable accident might occur. When creating the programming algorithm of the computer. Would it be
more ethical if the car should kill its driver if this could lead to the least potential harm to the
surroundings and the majority of the people or should it follow its original path regardless of the
situation? What would be the most ethical thing to do in such situations? And who would be the one in
such cases to decide what set of ethics will be implemented when developing the program of the car
which will lead to the car’s reaction should be?

2. Advantages

2.1. Saving lives

One of the great promises of artificial intelligence (AI) is our future without drivers through the
autonomous vehicle. Nearly 1.3 million people die in traffic accidents every year worldwide, an average
of 3.287 deaths a day and about 90% of these collisions have been caused by human error, says Brian
Krzanich, CEO of Intel Corporation. Autonomous driving technology can help prevent these errors, since
it provides autonomous vehicle such the ability to learn from the collective of million cars experience -
avoiding the mistakes made by others and creating a safer driving environment.

2.2. Environment

Another advantage that was found in this experiment was the fuel savings, since according to the
calculations of researchers, the saving was on average 40%. Under this scenario there is no need to speed
up or slow down abruptly.

2.3. Accessibility

A social benefit which don't usually talk about. It's the possibilities that this type of vehicle will
provide to persons with disabilities. The Ruderman Foundation, one of whose objectives is to fight for the
inclusion of people with disabilities, has published a report regarding autonomous cars. The organization
believes that new technology has great potential to improve the transport of disabled people. Autonomous
cars can provide independence, with the improvement of the quality of life that this represents. So far,
public transport was one of the most used by this collective solutions, but is sometimes insufficient.
3. Disadvantages

3.1. Unemployment
In here I would validate how the introduction of this technology will have a detrimental effect on people
whose jobs depends heavily on manual transportation.

3.2. Privacy

If the car you use need satellites in real time to operate, this obviously has the potential for any third party
to know exactly where you are at any time. This is potentially dangerous because privacy is not taken at
all. Companies developing autonomous cars try to avoid this invasion of privacy, but details of the
locations of thousands of people will be available so potential third party malicious can get them.

4. Moral Dilemma

4.1. Imminent accident

In here I would introduce the dilemma of who should survive given an imminent accident where either
the pedestrians or the driver have the potential to die, given that it could be the life of many pedestrians
compared to the life of just one person, the driver.

4.2. Ethical choice

In here I would introduce ethics to discuss which would be a better choice

4.3. Who is to decide?

4.3.1. Programmer/Manufacturer
4.3.2. Driver

In here I would include the idea of perhaps giving the driver the opportunity to provide a set of answers to
some questions that would deal with reactions that should be prioritized in case of certain imminent
accidents. This way the driver gets to decide if the car should kill the driver or not and be remain as much
loyal as possible to the owner of the car.

5. Conclusion

6. Reference:

Claypool, H., Bin-Nun, A., Ph.D., & Gerlach, J. (2017). Self-driving cars: The impact on people with
disabilities. The Ruderman White Paper. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from http://secureenergy.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/01/Self-Driving-Cars-The-Impact-on-People-with-Disabilities_FINAL.pdf

Condliffe, J. (2017, May 10). A single autonomous car has a huge impact on alleviating traffic. MIT
Technology Review. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/607841/a-
single-autonomous-car-has-a-huge-impact-on-alleviating-traffic/
Krzanich, B. (2017, November 29). Autonomous driving is today's biggest game changer.
IntelNewsroom. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/autonomous-
driving-todays-biggest-game-changer/

Krzanich, B. (2017, November 26). Intel CEO. Automotive News. Retrieved March 19, 2018, from
http://www.autonews.com/article/20171126/OEM02/171129889/brian-krzanich-all-star-supplier-intel

Zhu, W., & Zhang, H. (2018). Analysis of mixed traffic flow with human-driving and
autonomous cars based on car-following model. Physica A, 496274-285.
doi:10.1016/j.physa.2017.12.103