Should a self-driving car hit a pedestrian in order to save your life?
Whether it’s Wal-Mart trucks or public transit, the tech-business community is abuzz with the possibilities of self-driving vehicles … except for this one question. A new study published in the Science journal asked the question in a series of surveys to gauge the public on robotic morality and the perception of autonomous vehicle safety standards.
The study, which included about 2,000 people in a series of six surveys, revealed that a majority of respondents believed autonomous vehicles should be programmed to be “utilitarian,” attempting to save the most lives while sacrificing the fewest.
While 76% of respondents believed it is more moral for an autonomous vehicle to sacrifice one passenger rather than 10 pedestrians, 81% of respondents said they would rather own a car that protected them and their family members at all costs. This means that while respondents believed that the moral thing to do was to sacrifice oneself if it would save 10 others, a majority of the respondents would not want to purchase such a vehicle.
The team behind the survey noted that autonomous vehicles could have benefits for the environment, decrease traffic jams and reduce traffic accidents involving human error. There is a “social dilemma” since we all have an incentive to ride in a self-protective vehicle instead of one that would sacrifice ourselves for ten strangers.
Jonathan Handel, an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, said that the study is, “an insightful study that shows that the ‘not in my backyard’ problem extends to driverless cars.” Handel continued, “People want manufacturers and society to do the right thing but not at their own expense.”
While self-driving cars on the interstates may still be a ways away, driverless big rig trucking may be just around the corner.
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