Bearing the weight: A qualitative study on expert views on integrating ethics in autonomous vehicles

Abstract

AVs are increasingly becoming present on public roads, the ethics of which have captured the publics attention. This study represents the first ever investigation into the opinion of AV development experts on the ethics of programming AVs in collision scenarios. The study makes use of a qualitative research model. A sample of 24 Swiss experts were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The majority of experts were directly involved in the development of AVs and represented both research, private, and public sectors as well as national regulatory bodies. Three core themes emerged from the data. 1) Experts were keenly aware of the ethical challenges involved in AVs on public roads, including in collision situations. 2) Experts felt a moral responsibility for how AVs are programmed and developed. However, experts’ moral framework was not well developed with many experts stating that their own personal moral framework should not be used to program motion planning. 3) Experts saw a need for an ethical framework to guide the development of AVs. The paper concludes that it is clear experts are keenly aware of the ethics involved in AVs on public roads, and in particular collision scenarios. They feel a sense of responsibility for how AVs are programmed but do not feel ethically well-equipped themselves. Experts would, therefore, appreciate an ethical framework that would assist the development of these algorithms. This framework may be driven by either industry or government but should be clear and simple. We recommend countries like Switzerland develop such a framework.