The social dilemma of autonomous vehicles
Name
1510.03346.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
3.52 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
6b9cff5f5dd108f49c56c6107d9750d7
Author(s)
Bonnefon, Jean-François
Shariff, Azim
Rahwan, Iyad
Date Issued
2016
Journal
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) should reduce traffic accidents, but they will sometimes have to choose between two evils, such as running over pedestrians or sacrificing themselves and their passenger to save the pedestrians. Defining the algorithms that will help AVs make these moral decisions is a formidable challenge. We found that participants in six Amazon Mechanical Turk studies approved of utilitarian AVs (that is, AVs that sacrifice their passengers for the greater good) and would like others to buy them, but they would themselves prefer to ride in AVs that protect their passengers at all costs. The study participants disapprove of enforcing utilitarian regulations for AVs and would be less willing to buy such an AV. Accordingly, regulating for utilitarian algorithms may paradoxically increase casualties by postponing the adoption of a safer technology.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.AAF2654
