Autonomous vehicles

Question 1

Uses for AVs

Answer 1

personal cars
taxis
buses
delivery vehicles

Question 2

Benefits of AVs

Answer 2

safety
mobility
environment
economic efficiency

Question 3

What are thought experiments in moral philosophy

Answer 3

hypothetical scenarios designed to isolate variables and identify general moral principles from shared intuitive reactions

Question 4

Kant’s murderer at the door

Answer 4

tests whether lying is always wrong

Question 5

Singer’s drowning child

Answer 5

tests the strength of duties to help others

Question 6

Thomson’s violinist

Answer 6

tests whether abortion is wrong

Question 7

Trolley problem

Answer 7

tests wrongness of killing vs letting die, the fairness of harm distribution

Question 8

Lingering concerns beyond the trolley problem

Answer 8

responsibility
labour automation
algorithmic bias
privacy
accessibility and transportation justice

Question 9

Himmelreich’s critique of trolley problems for TVs ethics

Answer 9

assumptions of unavoidability & control rarely hold
presupposes top-down programming
locates problem at the level of individual morality rather than political morality
ignores variation in cases, uncertainty of probabilities, and limits of intuitive judgements

Question 10

‘The social dilemma’ by Bonnefon et al

Answer 10

imposing utilitarian TVs would mean people refusing using AVs
no one using AVs lead to a continuous high road casualties
most people believe AVs should act like utilitarians and minimise overall casualties
most people personally prefer use of AVs that prioritise passengers (not utilitarian most time)