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Away from Trolley Problems and Toward Risk Management
Open accessAbstract
As automated vehicles receive more attention from the media, there has been an equivalent increase in the coverage of the ethical choices a vehicle may be forced to make in certain crash situations with no clear safe outcome. Much of this coverage has focused on a philosophical thought experiment known as the “trolley problem,” and substituting an automated vehicle for the trolley and the car’s software for the bystander. While this is a stark and straightforward example of ethical decision making for an automated vehicle, it risks marginalizing the entire field if it is to become the only ethical problem in the public’s mind. In this chapter, I discuss the shortcomings of the trolley problem, and introduce more nuanced examples that involve crash risk and uncertainty. Risk management is introduced as an alternative approach, and its ethical dimensions are discussed.
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“This corresponds to a risk management situation by all means, with a number of nuances and inherent complexity (Goodall, 2016).”
From Ethical principles in machine learning and artificial intelligence: cases from the field and possible ways forward (2020) · cites this paper as Goodall, 2016
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Metadata
- Authors
- Goodall, N. J.
- Affiliations
- Virginia Transportation Research Council (US)
- Corresponding author
- Goodall, Noah J.
- Venue
- Applied Artificial Intelligence
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2016-09-13
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 810-821
- ISSN
- 0883-9514 (ISSN-L)
- 1087-6545
- OpenAlex
- W2557292748
- Cited by
- 124
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 21.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Applied Artificial Intelligence (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
- Funders
- Virginia Department of Transportation (00107)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Autonomous Vehicle Technology and Safety
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophical Ethics and Theory
- Keywords
- trolley problem, autonomous vehicles, ethical decision-making, crash risk, risk management, uncertainty, ethical dilemmas
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