The risk ethics of autonomous vehicles: a continuous trolley problem in regular road traffic
This addresses ethical decision-making in autonomous vehicles for policymakers and developers, though it is incremental as it builds on existing trolley problem frameworks.
The study investigated how autonomous vehicles distribute risks among road users in regular traffic, beyond just unavoidable accidents, and found that participants' preferences for driving maneuvers deviated significantly from mere collision avoidance, with many willing to take personal risks for others' benefit.
Is the ethics of autonomous vehicles (AVs) restricted to weighing lives in unavoidable accidents? We argue that AVs distribute risks between road users in regular traffic situations, either explicitly or implicitly. This distribution of risks raises ethically relevant questions that cannot be evaded by simple heuristics such as "hitting the brakes." Using an interactive, graphical representation of different traffic situations, we measured participants' preferences on driving maneuvers of AVs in a representative survey in Germany. Our participants' preferences deviated significantly from mere collision avoidance. Interestingly, our participants were willing to take risks themselves for the benefit of other road users suggesting that the social dilemma of AVs may lessen in a context of risk.