The ethics of driverless cars
Jason Millar, a PhD Candidate in the Department of Philosophy, spends a lot of time thinking about driverless cars. Though you aren鈥檛 likely to be able to buy them for 10 years, he says there are a number of ethical problems that need to be tackled before they go mainstream.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 an issue for the next generation, it鈥檚 happening right now. Driverless cars are on the road in certain jurisdictions as they鈥檙e being prepared for a mass market,鈥 says Millar, whose dissertation focuses on robot ethics and the implications of increasingly autonomous machinery. 鈥淭hese cars promise safety benefits, but I鈥檓 interested in what happens to the cars in a difficult situation, one where lives are on the line.鈥