Crash Algorithms for Autonomous Cars How the Trolley Problem Can Move Us Beyond Harm Minimisation

The prospective introduction of autonomous cars into public traffic raises the question of how such systems should behave when an accident is inevitable. Due to concerns with self-interest and liberal legitimacy that have become paramount in the emerging debate, a contractarian framework seems to pr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hübner, Dietmar 1968- (Autor) ; White, Lucie (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
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Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Publicado: [2018]
En: Ethical theory and moral practice
Año: 2018, Volumen: 21, Número: 3, Páginas: 685-698
Clasificaciones IxTheo:NCA Ética
NCJ Ética de la ciencia
VA Filosofía
Otras palabras clave:B Crash algorithms
B Self-driving vehicles
B Trolley Problem
B Harm minimisation
B Autonomous cars
Acceso en línea: Volltext (Publisher)
Descripción
Sumario:The prospective introduction of autonomous cars into public traffic raises the question of how such systems should behave when an accident is inevitable. Due to concerns with self-interest and liberal legitimacy that have become paramount in the emerging debate, a contractarian framework seems to provide a particularly attractive means of approaching this problem. We examine one such attempt, which derives a harm minimisation rule from the assumptions of rational self-interest and ignorance of one's position in a future accident. We contend, however, that both contractarian approaches and harm minimisation standards are flawed, due to a failure to account for the fundamental difference between those ‘involved' and ‘uninvolved' in an impending crash. Drawing from classical works on the trolley problem, we show how this notion can be substantiated by reference to either the distinction between negative and positive rights, or to differences in people's claims. By supplementing harm minimisation with corresponding constraints, we can develop crash algorithms for autonomous cars which are both ethically adequate and promise to overcome certain significant practical barriers to implementation.
ISSN:1572-8447
Obras secundarias:Enthalten in: Ethical theory and moral practice
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10677-018-9910-x