When AI ethics Goes astray: a case study of autonomous vehicles
Abstract
This article discusses the dangers of the Moral Machine (MM) experiment, alerting against both its uses for normative ends and the whole approach it is built upon to address ethical issues. It explores additional methodological limits of the experiment on top of those already identified by its authors; exhibits the dangers of computational moral systems for modern democracies, such as the “voting-based system” recently developed out of the MM’s data; and provides reasons why ethical decision-making fundamentally excludes computational social choice methods.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Cites
Parfit, D. (1986) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/019824908x.001.0001 · Cited by 5,803 · see citing works
Dwork, C., Hardt, M., Pitassi, T., Reingold, O., & Zemel, R. (2012) · Proceedings of the 3rd Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference · doi:10.1145/2090236.2090255 · Cited by 3,501 · see citing works
Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Kim, R., Schulz, J., Henrich, J., Shariff, A., Bonnefon, J.-F., & Rahwan, I. (2018) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0637-6 · Cited by 1,859 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Bauman et al., 2014).”
The social dilemma of autonomous vehicles
Bonnefon, J.-F., Shariff, A., & Rahwan, I. (2016) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aaf2654 · Cited by 1,527 · see citing works
Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem
Thomson, J. J. (1976) · The Monist · doi:10.5840/monist197659224 · Cited by 1,349 · see citing works
Thomson, J. J. (1985) · The Yale Law Journal · doi:10.2307/796133 · Cited by 1,315 · see citing works
Moral machines: teaching robots right from wrong
(2009) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.46-4493 · Cited by 793 · see citing works
Psychological roadblocks to the adoption of self-driving vehicles
Shariff, A., Bonnefon, J.-F., & Rahwan, I. (2017) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0202-6 · Cited by 336 · see citing works
Responsibility for Crashes of Autonomous Vehicles: An Ethical Analysis
Hevelke, A., & Nida‐Rümelin, J. (2014) · Science and Engineering Ethics · doi:10.1007/s11948-014-9565-5 · Cited by 334 · see citing works
The Ethics of Accident-Algorithms for Self-Driving Cars: an Applied Trolley Problem?
Nyholm, S., & Smids, J. (2016) · Ethical Theory and Moral Practice · doi:10.1007/s10677-016-9745-2 · Cited by 332 · see citing works
Bauman, C. W., McGraw, A. P., Bartels, D. M., & Warren, C. (2014) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12131 · Cited by 325 · see citing works
Bostyn, D. H., Sevenhant, S., & Roets, A. (2018) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797617752640 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
When human beings are like drunk robots: Driverless vehicles, ethics, and the future of transport
Sparrow, R., & Howard, M. (2017) · Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies · doi:10.1016/j.trc.2017.04.014 · Cited by 182 · cited 2× · see citing works
“…deaths by one, what leads them to develop simulation instruments designed to help policy makers identify this critical moment (Kalra & Groves, 2017), while others assert, on the same ground, that regular cars should be prohibited as soon as AVs become safer (Sparrow & Howard, 2017, pp. 209–210).”
BackgroundMoral Decision Making Frameworks for Artificial Intelligence
Conitzer, V., Sinnott-Armstrong, W. P., Borg, J. S., Deng, Y. Q., & Kramer, M. (2017) · AAAI Publications (The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)) · doi:10.1609/aaai.v31i1.11140 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
The Enemy of Good: Estimating the Cost of Waiting for Nearly Perfect Automated Vehicles
Kalra, N., & GROVES, D. L. (2017) · RAND Corporation eBooks · doi:10.7249/rr2150 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World
(2019) · The state of food security and nutrition in the World · doi:10.18356/fe66e08f-en · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Wood, A. W. (2011) · doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199572816.003.0003 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Embedding Ethical Principles in Collective Decision Support Systems
Greene, J. D., Rossi, F., Tasioulas, J., Venable, K. B., & Williams, B. C. (2016) · Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1609/aaai.v30i1.9804 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Technology as moral proxy: Autonomy and paternalism by design
Millar, J. (2014) · doi:10.1109/ethics.2014.6893388 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Correction: Virtual Morality: Transitioning from Moral Judgment to Moral Action?
Francis, K., Howard, C., Howard, I. S., Gummerum, M., Ganis, G., Anderson, G., & Terbeck, S. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170133 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Self-driving cars could be vulnerable to hacking
(2015) · Physics Today · doi:10.1063/pt.5.029187 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ethical issues in focus by the autonomous vehicles industry
Martinho, A. M., Herber, N., Kroesen, M., & Chorus, C. G. (2021) · Transport Reviews · doi:10.1080/01441647.2020.1862355 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Chen, Q., Xie, Y., Guo, S., Bai, J., & Shu, Q. (2021) · Sensors and Actuators A Physical · doi:10.1016/j.sna.2021.112566 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Artificial Intelligence in Railway Transport: Taxonomy, Regulations, and Applications
Bešinović, N., Donato, L. D., Flammini, F., Goverde, R. M. P., Lin, Z., Liu, R., Marrone, S., Nardone, R., Tang, T., & Vittorini, V. (2021) · IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems · doi:10.1109/tits.2021.3131637 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
A Survey of Ambient Intelligence
Dunne, R., Morris, T., & Harper, S. (2021) · ACM Computing Surveys · doi:10.1145/3447242 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
What do academics say about artificial intelligence ethics? An overview of the scholarship
Bakıner, O. (2022) · AI and Ethics · doi:10.1007/s43681-022-00182-4 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Cha, S. (2024) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-024-03017-1 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Siegel, J. E., & Παππάς, Γ. (2021) · AI & Society · doi:10.1007/s00146-021-01277-y · Cited by 27 · see citing works
The politics of autonomous vehicles
Stilgoe, J., & Mladenović, M. N. (2022) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-022-01463-3 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Machine Ethics: Do Androids Dream of Being Good People?
Génova, G., Moreno, V., & González, M. R. (2023) · Science and Engineering Ethics · doi:10.1007/s11948-023-00433-5 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Moral dilemmas for moral machines
LaCroix, T. (2022) · AI and Ethics · doi:10.1007/s43681-022-00134-y · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Metaethical perspectives on ‘benchmarking’ AI ethics
LaCroix, T., & Luccioni, A. S. (2025) · AI and Ethics · doi:10.1007/s43681-025-00703-x · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Dong, X., Cappuccio, M. L., Alnajjar, F., Ali, L., Jassmi, H. A., Debie, E., Ghasrikhouzani, M., Lanteri, A., McGregor, T., Molloy, О., et al. (2025) · Journal of Field Robotics · doi:10.1002/rob.70108 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Exploring moral algorithm preferences in autonomous vehicle dilemmas: an empirical study
Sui, T. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1229245 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“These moral dilemmas highlight the need for the development of a “moral algorithm” to guide the decision-making process of AVs (Lucifora et al., 2020; Etienne, 2022; Himmelreich, 2022).”
BackgroundLarge-scale moral machine experiment on large language models
bin Ahmad, M. S. Z., & Takemoto, K. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0322776 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Altay, B. C., Boztas, A. E., Okumuş, A., Gül, M., & Çelik, E. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15118916 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
A practical role-based approach for autonomous vehicle moral dilemmas
Etienne, H. (2022) · Big Data & Society · doi:10.1177/20539517221123305 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Self-citationA Lesson From AI: Ethics Is Not an Imitation Game
Génova, G., Moreno, V., & Martín, M. D. R. G. (2022) · IEEE Technology and Society Magazine · doi:10.1109/mts.2022.3147531 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
A Study of Common Principles for Decision-Making in Moral Dilemmas for Autonomous Vehicles
Li, L., Zhang, J., Wang, S., & Zhou, Q. (2022) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs12090344 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Ethical Decision Making Under Time Pressure: An Online Study
Yahoodik, S., Samuel, S., & Yamani, Y. (2021) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/1071181321651166 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Kaßens-Noor, E., Siegel, J. E., & Decaminada, T. (2021) · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · doi:10.3389/frsc.2021.723475 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Unwinding AI's Moral Maze: Hypertext's Ethical Potential
Atzenbeck, C. (2024) · ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (HT) · doi:10.1145/3648188.3678213 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
The probability problems of the Moral Machine Experiment
Schuessler, D. (2023) · AI and Ethics · doi:10.1007/s43681-023-00287-4 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Ethics in the Driver's Seat: Unravelling the Ethical Dilemmas of AI in Autonomous Driving
Wani, A., Kumari, D., & Singh, J. (2024) · SAE technical papers on CD-ROM/SAE technical paper series · doi:10.4271/2024-01-2023 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Kuhn, M. M., Reit, V., Schwing, M., & Selinka, S. (2024) · Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice · doi:10.1016/j.tra.2024.104224 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Mapping the ethic‐theoretical foundations of artificial intelligence research
White, G. R. T., Samuel, A. J., Jones, P. K., Madhavan, N., Afolayan, A., Abdullah, A., & Kaushik, T. (2024) · Thunderbird International Business Review · doi:10.1002/tie.22368 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Unavoidable Collisions. The Automation of Moral Judgment
Fossa, F. (2023) · Studies in applied philosophy, epistemology and rational ethics · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-22982-4_4 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Wang, Y., Tan, G., & Si, H. (2024) · Transportation Research Part F Traffic Psychology and Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.trf.2024.11.001 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Philosophical and Legal Approach to Moral Settings in Autonomous Vehicles: An Evaluation
Rafiee, A., Wu, Y. C., & Sattar, A. (2023) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/s1529-209620230000027007 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
FOREIGN TRADE ACTIVITY OF UKRAINE AND POLAND
Диха, М. В., Диха, В. В., & Konieczny, G. (2024) · International Interdisciplinary Scientific Journal Expert · doi:10.62034/2815-5300/2024-v1-i3-002 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Implementing AI ethics in practice and the question of ’who?’ A framework and a multiple case study
Kemell, K., Floréen, P., Raatikainen, M., & Nurminen, J. K. (2025) · AI and Ethics · doi:10.1007/s43681-025-00870-x · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Ethical Dilemmas in Autonomous Driving: Philosophical, Social, and Public Policy Implications
Saber, E. M., Kostidis, S.-C., & Politis, I. (2024) · Wireless networks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-55044-7_2 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Kirchschlaeger, P. G. (2024) · Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG eBooks · doi:10.5771/9783748918462-469 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
The Governance of Artificial Intelligence in the “Autonomous City”
Cugurullo, F., Yiğitcanlar, T., Zhang, X., Del Casino, V., Gulsrud, N. M., & Barns, S. (2023) · Frontiers research topics · doi:10.3389/978-2-8325-3564-6
Moral Dilemmas with an Option to Delegateevidence from an Online Experiment in ChinaPreprint
Gao, Y., Blayac, T., & Willinger, M. (2023) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4611281
Assessing the Fidelity of Explanations with Global Sensitivity Analysis
Smith, M. R., Acquesta, E., Smutz, C., Rushdi, A., & Moss, B. (2023) · Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences · doi:10.24251/hicss.2023.133 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Ross, A. G., & FRHistS (2024) · IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering · doi:10.1088/1757-899x/1321/1/012003
Delegating moral dilemmas in autonomous vehicles evidence from an online experiment in China
Gao, Y., Blayac, T., & Willinger, M. (2025) · Transport Policy · doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.04.017
Conduciendo hacia el mañana: El emprendimiento de vehículos automatizados
Gómez, J. J. V. (2025) · Revista NeyArt · doi:10.61273/neyart.v3i3.116
Mehra, R. K., & Rahman, M. M. (2025) · Advances in computational intelligence and robotics book series · doi:10.4018/979-8-3373-7011-8.ch001
La philosophie computationnelle : pour une reprise en main épistémique du monde numérique
Etienne, H. (2022) · doi:10.70675/d2cbaf0dz1dcdz44daz9c9cz45bb5d3c64fd
Self-citationProgramming the Trolley: Australians’ Take on Autonomous Vehicle Dilemmas
Rafiee, A., Breakey, H., Wu, Y. C., & Sattar, A. (2026) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-25029-2_3
- Authors
- Etienne, H.
- Affiliations
- École Normale Supérieure - PSL (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Etienne, Hubert
- Venue
- Social Science Computer Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-02-28
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 236-246
- ISSN
- 0894-4393 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-8286
- OpenAlex
- W3008980120
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7
- FWCI
- 7.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social Science Computer Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Ethics in Business and Education
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophical Ethics and Theory
- Keywords
- autonomous vehicles, AI ethics, normative ethics, computational social choice, ethical decision-making, methodological limitations
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review