Ethical considerations and moral implications of autonomous vehicles and unavoidable collisions

Robinson, Jonathan; Smyth, Joseph; Woodman, Roger; Donzella, Valentina

doi:10.1080/1463922x.2021.1978013

Cited by 16 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Utilitarianism and deontology are commonly used as starting points for discussing ethical options in AV collision scenarios (Robinson et al , 2022), even when scholars aim to explore alternative perspectives such as Aristotelian virtue ethics (Bench-Capon, 2020). Empirical surveys reveal a widespread preference for utilitarianism.…”

Section: Western Normative Responses For Autonomous Vehicle Crash Pro...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of these collisions involve scenarios where AVs must make moral and normative decisions regarding the prioritization of human life and property. In such situations, although the vehicle may not be able to avoid the dangerous crash, it may be able to select from various courses of action to minimize resultant loss (Karnouskos, 2018; Robinson et al , 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How to program autonomous vehicle (AV) crash algorithms: an Islamic ethical perspective

Elmahjub

Qadir

2023

JICES

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Purpose Fully autonomous self-driving cars not only hold the potential for significant economic and environmental advantages but also introduce complex ethical dilemmas. One of the highly debated issues, known as the “trolley problems,” revolves around determining the appropriate actions for a self-driving car when faced with an unavoidable crash. Currently, the discourse on autonomous vehicle (AV) crash algorithms is primarily shaped by Western ethical traditions, resulting in a Eurocentric bias due to the dominant economic and political influence of the West. However, considering that AV technology will be deployed across diverse cultural and religious contexts, this paper aims to contribute to the discourse by providing an Islamic perspective on programming the response of AVs in the event of an imminent crash. Design/methodology/approach This study proposes a novel methodology based on the Islamic concept of maṣlaḥa for the normative assessment of ethical decisions related to AV programming. Findings Drawing upon the works of classic Islamic jurists, this study highlights two distinct normative visions within Islamic traditions (akin to deontology and consequentialism) concerning the preservation of human lives in the context of AVs. This study explores the shared and divergent elements between Islamic and Western ethical approaches proposed for AVs. Originality/value This pioneering work examines AV crash algorithms from an Islamic perspective, filling a void in the global ethical discourse. This work will also serve an important role to bridge the gap between the theoretical Islamic ethical principles and their practical application in the realm of AVs.

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Section: Western Normative Responses For Autonomous Vehicle Crash Pro...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to program autonomous vehicle (AV) crash algorithms: an Islamic ethical perspective

Elmahjub

Qadir

2023

JICES

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[(𝑥 𝑛 , 𝑦 𝑛 ), 𝐼 ̅ 𝑛 ] = 𝑓 𝑊𝐷 [(𝑥 𝑝 , 𝑦 𝑝 ), 𝑓 𝑂𝑐𝑐 ( 𝐼 ̅ 𝑝 )] (3) When noise factors are not independent, their combined effect will need to be carefully analysed and formulated. In this case, the two noise models just described are combined as shown in (3), and the parameter 𝑝 1 and the size 𝑙, respectively described in sec. III.A and sec.…”

Section: Compound Noise Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is key to formally prove the robustness of these systems under challenging and unexpected situations such as failures or degradation of crucial components in the vehicle (e.g. a failure of a perception sensor, such as a camera) under extreme environmental conditions and corner cases [1][2][3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Automotive Camera Sensor Noise Factors

Li¹,

Chan²,

Baris³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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<p>Assisted and automated driving functions are increasingly deployed to support improved safety, efficiency, and enhance driver experience. However, there are still key technical challenges that need to be overcome, such as the degradation of perception sensor data due to noise factors. The quality of data being generated by sensors can directly impact the planning and control of the vehicle, which can affect the vehicle safety. This work builds on a recently proposed framework, analysing noise factors on automotive LiDAR sensors, and deploys it to camera sensors, focusing on the specific disturbed sensor outputs via a detailed analysis and classification of automotive camera specific noise sources (30 noise factors are identified and classified in this work). Moreover, the noise factor analysis has recognised two omnipresent and independent noise factors (i.e. obstruction and windshield distortion). These noise factors have been modelled to generate noisy camera data; their impact on the perception step, based on deep neural networks, has been evaluated when the noise factors are applied independently and simultaneously. It is demonstrated that the performance degradation from the combination of noise factors is not simply the accumulated performance degradation from each single factor, which raises the importance of including the simultaneous analysis of multiple noise factors. Thus, the framework can support and enhance the use of simulation for development and testing of automated vehicles through careful consideration of the noise factors affecting camera data. </p>

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“…Key therefore is formally proving the robustness of these systems under challenging and unexpected situations such as failures or degradation of crucial components in the vehicle (e.g. a failure of a perception sensor, such as a camera) under extreme environmental conditions and corner cases [1][2][3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Automotive Camera Sensor Noise Factors and Impact on Object Detection

Chan

Baris

et al. 2022

IEEE Sensors J.

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Assisted and Automated Driving functions are increasingly deployed to support improved safety, efficiency, and enhance driver experience. However, there are still key technical challenges that need to be overcome as the degradation of perception sensor data due to noise factors. The quality of data being generated by sensors can directly impact the planning and control of the vehicle, which in turn can affect the vehicle safety. A framework to analyse noise factor effects on automotive environmental perception sensors has been recently proposed and applied to study the effects of noise factors on LiDAR sensors. This work builds on this framework, and deploys it to camera sensors, focusing on the specific disturbed sensor outputs via a detailed analysis and classification of camera specific noise sources. Moreover, the noise factor analysis has been used to identify two omnipresent and independent noise factors (i.e. obstruction and windshield distortion). These noise factors have been modelled to generate noisy camera data; their impact on the perception step, based on deep neural networks, has been evaluated when the noise factors are applied independently and simultaneously. It is demonstrated that the performance degradation from the combination of noise factors is not simply the accumulated performance degradation from each single factor, which raises the importance of including combination noise factor modelling and testing for performance analysis. Thus, through the findings here, the framework can enhance the use of simulation for development and testing of automated vehicles through careful consideration of the noise factors affecting camera data.

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Ethical considerations and moral implications of autonomous vehicles and unavoidable collisions

Cited by 16 publications

References 32 publications

How to program autonomous vehicle (AV) crash algorithms: an Islamic ethical perspective

How to program autonomous vehicle (AV) crash algorithms: an Islamic ethical perspective

Analysis of Automotive Camera Sensor Noise Factors

Analysis of Automotive Camera Sensor Noise Factors and Impact on Object Detection

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