Here's A Terrible Idea Analysis

I find it humorous that this week’s discussion on driverless vehicles is the same exact subject my wife and I were talking about on Sunday during our unscheduled trip back home from Kansas City, Missouri. Since this trip interfered with our other plans, we were discussing how pleasant it would be if our vehicle was one that was automated because we believed we had better things to do with our time. Actually, this idea was even more evident when we became stalled in a traffic jam due to a stalled vehicle on the road. Therefore, if I were a decision maker in regards to driverless vehicles, I would choose Egoism to be the most ethical pre-programmed crash decision software. (O.C. Ferrell, Fraedrich & L. Ferrell, 2013). The reason I chose Egoism

Windsor researched into this possibility. He asks these simple, but important questions “But should they be programmed to make the decision that is best for their owners? Or the choice that does the least harm -- even if that means choosing to slam into a retaining wall to avoid hitting an oncoming school bus?” Once I read over the first question I knew that the ugliness of business would rather develop a car that takes their customers lives into greater importance than other drivers. It would not make sense to program a car to save the life of other drivers when they are not paying to have a “safety guard”, if you

As many people head out to start their days, a good majority will get into their cars and face many split second decisions. As humans when faced with split second decisions, it is impossible to always make the right choice. Autonomous cars are unable to make ethical decisions, such as deciding which way to swerve where both either direction (right or left) could endanger others.

Self-driving cars also face ethical and human behavior issues. How will self-driving cars decide who will live and who will die in quick decision making situations (Nelson, Gabe)? “If an accident is truly unavoidable, what decisions will the car face?”-Damier, CEO Dieter Zetsche.

Technology is taking over every day life, it is used from the first minute a person opens his/her eyes, to the time a person sleeps. For instance, it can start when a person picks up their smart phone to navigate the internet or to order something. Today’s society is gradually changing to that of convenience, which is largely built on the use of modern technology. For the past few years, there has been an ongoing development on the idea of the self-driving cars. Not everybody is excited about this new development. For instance, in the article, “Can You Program Ethics Into a Self-Driving Car?” By Goodall, Noah J., points out, “In each of these examples, a car is making a decision about several values—the value of the object it might hit as well

The positive impacts of advancements in modern technology are undeniable in our lives, but with the new technology comes new dangers. One of these new dangers is the inevitability of self-driving cars. With companies such as Tesla already having cars in production with an autopilot feature, it will not be long before other automotive companies join the new trend. Although these self-driving cars have a multitude of sensors and cameras to keep you safe will driving how would these cars react in the instance where an accident is unavoidable? In the situation where an accident is unavoidable, and no matter the choice that is made death is imminent, the people responsible for the avoidance patterning for self-driving cars should program the car

Many intricate problems emerge with self-driving cars, but they all stem from the idea of ethics, what is morally right and wrong. To try to get a better understanding for how these autonomous cars fit into the moral spectrum,

Autonomous vehicles are on the verge of drastically changing transportation. They potentially can save millions of dollars in damages and fuel efficiency as well as countless lives. However, the development of driverless cars pose serious ethical problems for software engineers. For instance, the millions of people who earn their living driving trucks or cabs would lose their jobs as they get replaced by computer programs. Another issue is transparency because the driving software needs to be very high quality to increase safety. Company designers and researchers tend to work secretly, so others can’t steal their progress but this close mindedness closes off extra ideas and criticism. Finally, the need for safe code delves into morality. An autonomous car will have to make life and death

In the article Why Self Driving Cars Must Be Programmed to Kill, there are robotic cars being manufactured. These vehicles will get better gas mileage and prevent less accidents compared to human driven vehicles. One dilemma due to these robotic vehicles is if a time comes where you are riding in your robotic vehicle and it heads straight into a group of ten people the only way to save these people is to swerve and crash into a wall killing the driver and the occupants of the vehicle. Most people are comfortable with the idea that self driving cars should be programmed to minimize the death toll. These issues can not be ignored because how much time and money these car companies have endowed in this robotic advanced product. Which one would choose when it comes down to it?

Recently a pedestrian was hit and killed in Tempe, AZ after being stuck by an autonomous vehicle while crossing the road. This incident further highlights the difficulties engineers face when trying to implement concrete standards to which artificial intelligent machines must adhere. “It’s one thing to automate driving on a well-striped, high-quality, cars-only road. But machine learning is harder when you add ‘unpredictable’ people, poorly striped lanes, low quality pavement, inclement weather, and other inconsistencies. Algorithms thrive on order—and city streets have less of it” (Tomer). In this unfortunate scenario, the technology involved failed to respond to an unexpected situation when the victim stepped from the curb onto the road in an area which was not designated as a crosswalk zone. In alternate scenarios the vehicle in question may even be required to make a decision in which there is no favorable outcome, similar to the aforementioned trolley problem, that would satisfy all parties involved. Engineers must decide what actions would be taken in the event that saving one person would almost certainly guarantee the death of another, and which life should be prioritized, if

Self-driving cars appear to be a rapidly spreading form of technology. Before they become widespread, there is an ethical dilemma car manufacturers must surmount; they must decide whether in the case of a car accident, to save the passenger or to save pedestrians. A study was done, and respondents were given two choice, and they had to decide which was more ethical. One option would make the car minimize risk to the passenger, even if it would increase risk to pedestrians. The other option was to decrease general risk, without preference to passenger or pedestrian. Obviously, most respondants thought that the latter was more ethical. Even so, respondants said they would not buy a car that did not have

In “21st Century Car Crash”, Rachel Rubenstein’s self-driving car, a product of Eliva Industries, T-bones Shimon Shalom’s car to avoid killing a jaywalking pedestrian. Mr. Shalom’s Rabbi sends him to the Beit Din to sue for damages, which Ms. Rubenstein is reluctant to pay. She claims that Eli Levine, the owner of Eliva Industries, is at fault. After all, his company’s programming drove the car to turn away from the jaywalker and crash into another car. Ms. Rubenstein says that she would have just slammed on the brakes, had there been a manual override option. Mr. Levine has informed the Beit Din that swerving must have been the safest course of action, or the car wouldn’t have done it. Now the court must decide who, if anyone, is liable

For the essay, I plan to investigate the ethics involving autonomous vehicles. In addition to exploring the trolley problem, I will also explore whether it is ethical for current self-driving vehicles, like Tesla’s, to be produced with incomplete technology that consumers can abuse. Ethics concerning self-driving cars is extremely relevant to engineers who need consider the implications of artificial intelligence driving our vehicles as the technology is being developed and before accidents happen. Although autonomous vehicles are somewhat of a novelty now, it is also relevant to the broader public, whom the majority will own some form of a self-driving car in the next 10 years.

Robot cars are seemingly beneficial; however, it comes with a host of potential complications and hazards. Patrick Lin presents a facet of the potential problems associated with robot cars in Here’s a Terrible Idea: Robot Cars with Adjustable Ethics Settings. After analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of robot cars, including those presented in Here’s a Terrible Idea: Robot Cars with Adjustable Ethics Settings, I believe that we should stop the development of robot cars.

Modern technology is progressing nowadays with an enormous speed and faster than ever. Scientists are in the race of creating smaller, faster and less power consuming micro chips and entire systems everyday. The world is trying to computerize and make everything as smart as possible, so people can use these systems in their favors by simplifying their everyday lives. Cars haven't been left without the attention either. A little more than 100 year ago, the first Ford car became available to public and was the first mass-produced automobile which, basically, consisted of a cabin, steering wheel and wheels. Since then, cars evolved a lot and what defines a car today are multiple sensors, electronics that control many aspects of driving and all that is connected by nearly 1,500 wires with 1 mile in total length [1]. Scientists don’t want to stop on the achieved, and their current goal is to develop and mass-produce autonomous cars.There are many ethical issues that arise around self-driving cars and I will discuss some of them and explain why I think that the process of automating the cars should be delayed until, at least, we have more sophisticated technology for that.