Driverless cars aren’t even on the market yet, and already people are considering the ethics behind them. After all, the computer would have to be programmed to know what to do if a crash was going to occur, so whoever did that programming may have to determine who would live and who would die while writing out the code.
On behalf of Joseph Caprara of CBLAW posted in Car Accidents on Friday, November 6, 2015.
Driverless cars aren’t even on the market yet, and already people are considering the ethics behind them. After all, the computer would have to be programmed to know what to do if a crash was going to occur, so whoever did that programming may have to determine who would live and who would die while writing out the code.
That’s a big choice to make, to put it mildly.
One theoretical question that has been asked goes like this: In some situations, it may be impossible for the car to avoid an accident that could prove to be fatal. Now, if the car was about to be hit by another vehicle and the only way to avoid that crash was to drive into a group of people walking along the road, what would the car do? Would it save the driver in the car and hit the pedestrians, or would it avoid the pedestrians and allow the accident to happen, possibly ruining the car and killing those inside?
It sounds like a very specific situation, but the point of asking these questions is that, according to experts, they have to be answered before anyone can buy a car. The vehicle must be programmed to respond properly, so people have to decide what the proper choice is in all situations, no matter how rare or unlikely they may be. With millions and millions of cars on the roads, all situations could play out eventually.
If and when driverless cars do hit the market, these questions will also be very important when determining fault and compensation.
Source: CBC, “Computers could decide who lives and dies in a driverless car crash,” Terry Reith, Oct. 30, 2015