Ethical

Case study of autonomous vehivle accident

Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)

 

Case description:   

Alice buys an autonomous vehicle from Bob, who sells them. The autonomous vehicle has different settings, some more aggressive (where the autonomous vehicle drives faster and brakes harder), and some less. Alice sets the autonomous vehicle to its most aggressive setting. One night on a dark and wet road, Alice hits a pedestrian, Carlos, who was jaywalking. Carlos is badly hurt.

Analysis:

In this case, Alice, vehicle manufacturers, Carlos and government, im my opinion, are supposed to take the responsibility for the injury of Carlos. 

As the owner of the autonomous vehicle, Alice should take the main responsibilty for Carlos' injury. There are two reasons why Alice is to blame. In the firsr place, Alice wasn't aware of the risks of aggressive settings, otherwise she wouldn't have adjusted the settings to the highest level. The aggressive setting of her car increases the danger of accidents and traffic users will suffer a greater loss when a accident unfortunately happens. Further, Alice should have pay more attention to real road conditions, which she didn't apparently, since the vehicle was driving on a dark and wet road in the evening. Although she drives an autonomous car, it doesn't mean that she can sit in the back and show no concern about what's happening on the road.

Vehicle manufacturers are also considered to be responsible for the accident on technical issues. Designers and engineers did not take potential danger and different complicated situations on the road into consideration. The autonomous vehicle they produced are not able to give proper reactions immediately and allow a human being to come to harm through inaction, which is against the first law of robotics. 

Despite of the fact that Carlos was injured, he is to blame for his jaywalking. If he didnot break the traffic rules and cross the road, this accident may not happened.

Government is critized for not legislate laws on the manufacture and use of autonomous vehicles.

In order to reduce similar accidents from happening, there're some steps to take for different people or organizations. First of all, regulatortion organization should set up a serie of standards on manufacture and selling of autonomous vehicles and government should introduce laws on use of AVs. The rights for every road user should be protected. Second, manufacturers are supposed to reprogramme their vehicles in order to adapat to dynamic conditions on the road and provide solutions in case of danger. Artificial Intelligence is to be improved to better recognize the objects when driving and make decisions both properly and fast. More security tests are needed before the release of a new car. Last but not least, it's extremely important for owners to really know their cars and use them properly. They should pay attention to the road and make necessary adjustments in case of accident. After all, human beings are more reliable than robotics on emergency.