What are the moral decisions that driverless cars should make when an accident is inevitable? And who decides on those programmed answers? A new study opened that question to the public and found some surprising results.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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While technical aspects of driverless cars have been widely reported and discussed, the debate has now reached the morality of autonomous vehicles.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a new survey this week detailing preferences for the ethical decisions that autonomous vehicles may need to make when faced with unavoidable accidents. Such information could be used to inform the software within driverless cars, as well as the policy and laws in countries where they operate.
When accidents are unavoidable, how should driverless cars decide which pedestrian to run over?Image: picture-alliance/chromorange/SPA
The results showed a preference for human lives being spared over those of animals. More value was placed on a group of people as opposed to one or a few, and there was an expressed desire to save children before older people.
However, these results were not universal. Cultural differences were found in the survey, such as a weaker preference to save young people over the elderly in many Asian countries.
Millions of players participated in 'Moral Machine'
The survey included a multilingual online game, which researchers named the "Moral Machine." Participants were asked their preferred outcomes in a series of hypothetical dilemmas faced by autonomous vehicles.
The result of the game was a compilation of almost 40 million decisions made by more than two million participants around the world. Additional survey data was collected from respondents in 130 countries. Overall 491,921 participants offered their demographic data to be studied. The researchers analyzed the data as a whole and by demographic subgroups like gender, income, age, education and religious views.
The MIT's 'Moral Machine' game is still available for you to playImage: MIT/akinbostanci
The main differences found were based on geographic and cultural divides, though all of the regions preferred sparing law-abiding bystanders when having to choose between hitting them or jaywalkers.
While few codified policies have been passed for driverless cars, the German Ethics Commission on Automated and Connected Driving proposed the following in 2017: "In the event of unavoidable accident situations, any distinction based on personal features (age, gender, physical or mental constitution) is strictly prohibited. It is also prohibited to offset victims against one another. General programming to reduce the number of personal injuries may be justifiable."
The game remains accessible online here, so you can make some of the hard decisions yourself!
The car makes the decisions
Cars have shown that they can drive autonomously. But the introduction of the car without a driver is not that simple: Who is responsible in case of an accident? And do people want the car to make decisions for them?
Image: media.daimler.com
Driving from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas
This Audi A7 is packed with sensors. In early 2015 it drove all the way from Silicon Valley to the CES trade fair in Las Vegas. About 600 miles on the highway. Somebody's sitting behind the steering wheel - just in case. All went well during this trial.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Fets/Audi AG
Comfy - isn't it?
This prototype of Mercedes Benz - the F015 - shows how an autonomous car could look like: There is no driver's seat anymore. Instead the passengers are facing each other. This test vehicle, which was also developed in Silicon Valley, can achieve a maximum speed of 125 mph.
Image: media.daimler.com
Ready for real traffic?
Google has been testing its robotic vehicles in Mountain View for a long time. But until now somebody has always been behind the wheel to intervene if necessary.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Not for impatient people
Autonomous cars are very safe. They are programmed to slow down if something isn't right. They will always keep a safe distance and certainly never tailgate others.
Image: imago/Jochen Tack
One follows the other
These two autonomous cars of the University of the Bundeswehr (German army) in Munich compete in a "mule scenario." The second car always follows the first. At the military robotic competition ELROB they have to find their way in unpaved rugged territory - and they succeed.
Image: DW
Avoiding car crashes
Major accidents are frequently caused by limited vision, for instance in foggy conditions. People drive too fast and fail to keep the necessary distance. Intelligent robotic cars would not make such mistakes. In the future cars could be interconnected allowing them to send information on upcoming traffic jams to the cars behind.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Sensors for all kinds of data
Robotic cars see the world around them with different eyes: The Google car uses a laser-sensor for a 3D scan of its surroundings.
Image: DW/Fabian Schmidt
The world through the eyes of a laser scanner
The car from the University of the Bundeswehr is driving through rugged terrain. The laser scans the surroundings and the computer designs a three-dimensional map.
Image: Universität der Bundeswehr/TAS
Orientation by satellite, radar and optical eye
Robots can also see with other sensors. This one at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication and Information FKIE uses a regular USB-camera for its optical vision. Small radar sensors and GPS receivers determine the precise location on the map.
Image: DW/Fabian Schmidt
Cars with a vision - Made in Germany
Researchers at Daimler are also using optical cameras to build safer cars. The sensors behind the windshield observe what is happening on the road. Daimler's active traffic safety systems earned the company a nomination for Germany's Invention Award (Deutscher Zukunftspreis) in 2011.
Image: Deutscher Zukunftspreis/Ansgar Pudenz
Pixels become movements
The sensors recognize a pixel cloud. The computer can determine how fast different sections of the picture are moving from the pixels. This gives the computer a complete impression of what is going on around the car.
Image: Deutscher Zukunftspreis/Ansgar Pudenz
To break or to drive around
The computer determines where the object is likely to move and will act accordingly: The pedestrian, coming from the right, is marked orange - danger. The traffic on the left is green - no danger.
