INDIVIDUAL INDIVIDU AL PROJECT PROJEC T
Background and Rationale My acute interest in automobiles lead me to choose this specific topic. The issue currently with autonomous cars is not the handling of human/environmental interference but rather the question of who to blame in case of any damages involving a robot car and a living person. Every researcher/engineer looking into the field somehow stop at asking all the right questions and never give a realistic solution.
There exists a straightforward argument in the subject of machine ethics in implementing robot cars which is based on Philippa Foot’s Trolley Problem1. The already conflicting answers to this problem only raises more questions such as,’ Who takes the decision? the car or the human? who writes the software?’ [1], which just complicates the subject. Although a research paper strongly says that the designers of the algorithms responsible should, as far as possible, leave ethical issues to users, and when this is not possible, the ethical assumptions in the algorithm should at least be transparent and easy to identify by users.[2], emergency driving decisions would have to be taken swiftly and most of the time doesn’t allow enough time for permission/alerts from the driver/passenger. Essentially the answer to the problem is an algorithm that gives us a choice between murder and failure to render assistance. But how would this look in practice? Would you like to enter your car and set it up for "murder mode"[3]? Not only will my Individual Research Project be a valued addition to the existing research and development but will also work on finding practical and varying solutions to either resolve or avoid the conflict. The basic premise of this project is to find solution(s) with legal, technical and ethical reasoning
Subject Content Robot ethics is one of the more controversial topics. It is more than a “set of inflexible rules.” It’s behaviour depends on context and a number of environmental factors. It's most likely that advanced "ethical" robots will not come about by developing some sort of hardwired ethical system, but instead will come from "the development of robots that can better communicate and negotiate with the people they encounter to reach mutually agreeable outcomes.” [4] Then there exist Asimov’s Laws, also known as The Three Laws of Robotics. They are a set of formulated by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The Three Laws are:
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A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
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A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such would conflict with the First Law.
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A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.[5]
orders
Notable Researchers and Work The most indulged of the researchers on solving this case is Patrick Lin, an A $liate Scholar and the director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group. He has written several papers and news articles which outline every basic complication in the realisation of robot cars. He was the first researcher to propose the use of pre-defined ethics settings in cars which the user could choose based on his/her preference and denied the practicality of the feature on the same paper.
Another valued researcher in the field is Noah Goodall. As an established research scientist at the University of Virginia in the Transportation Research department. His journal report titled 'Ethical Decision Making During Automated Vehicle Crashes’ is one of the few specific articles which includes several statistical data and discusses some deduces various real life methods to tackle the problem of autonomous vehicle collisions.
Proposed Methodology For this report I will be using a combination of Qualitative and Quantitative research methodologies to triangulate hypotheses/options considering di" erent data. The data will be
appendix 1 Trolley Problem There is a runaway trolley barrelling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You do not have the ability to operate the lever in a way that would cause the trolley to derail without loss of life (for example, holding the lever in an intermediate position so that the trolley goes between the two sets of tracks, or pulling the lever after the front wheels pass the switch, but before the rear wheels do). You have two options: (1) Do nothing, and the trolley kills the five people on the main track. (2) Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person. Which is the correct choice?
Bibliography 1.
Hutton, P., Automated Vehicles, in A Thinking Aloud, A. Dunoyer, et al., Editors. 2014: Thinking HIghways.
2.
Felicitas Kraemer, K.v.O.a.M.P., Is there an ethics of algorithms? 2010.
3.
Angler, M.W., The Ethics Of Algorithms: Whom Would You Run Over? 2013.
4.
Love, D. A Simple Experiment Shows How Hard It Is To Get Robots To Behave Ethically. 2014 [cited 2014 September 27, 2014]; Available from: http:// www.businessinsider.com/ethical-robots-elevator-experiment-2014-4.
5.
Asimov, I., I, Robot. 1940: Super Science Stories.
6.
Goodall, N.J., Ethical Decision Making During Automated Vehicle Crashes. 2014.
Further References
14. Montemerlo; Michael Steven; (Mountain View, C.D.D.A.M.V., CA) ; Urmson; Christopher Paul; (Mountain View, CA), ZONE DRIVING, USPTO, Editor. 2011: The United States of America. 15. Fairfield; Nathaniel; (Mountain View, C.U.C.M.V., CA) ; Thrun; Sebastian; (Palo Alto, CA), TRAFFIC SIGNAL MAPPING AND DETECTION, USPTO, Editor. 2010: The United States of America. 16. Dolgov; Dmitri A.; (Mountain View, C.U.C.P.M.V., CA), DIAGNOSIS AND REPAIR FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES, USPTO, Editor. 2011: The United States of America. 17. Alberto Broggi, G.S., Christopher K. Yakes, Vision system for an autonomous vehicle, USPTO, Editor. 2007: The United States of America.
Books, Magazine and Journal Articles 18. Gopnik, A., A Point of View: The ethics of the driverless car, in BBC News. 2014. 19. Davies, A. The Technology For Self-Driving Cars Is Ready — Here's What It Will Take To Get Them On The Road. 2013 [cited 2014 June 21]; Available from: http:// www.businessinsider.com/challenges-of-self-driving-cars-2013-8.
30. Beiker, G.M.a.S., Road Vehicle Automation. 2014: Springer. 31. Yeomans, G., Handing Over Control: Opportunities and Risks for Insurance. 2014, Lloyd's. 32. Stewart, J. Google is to start building its own self-driving cars. 2014 [cited 2014 21st June]; Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27587558. 33. Newman, J., How to Make Driverless Cars Behave, in TIME. 2014. 34. Newman, J., Uber CEO Would Replace Drivers With Self-Driving Cars, in TIME. 2014. 35. Villasenor, J., Products Liability and Driverless Cars. The Robots Are Coming: The Project On Civilian Robots, 2014. 36. Jose % Santa , A.F.G.-S., Marc Sanchez-Artigas, Architecture and evaluation of a unified V2V and V2I communication system based on cellular networks. 2007. 37. Stock, K. The Problem With Self-Driving Cars: They Don't Cry. 2014 [cited 2014 June 30]; Available from: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-03/the-problem-withself-driving-cars-they-dont-cry. 38. Holehouse, M. Google's driverless cars to be allowed on roads after ministers rewrite Highway Code. 2014 [cited 2014 June 21]; Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ motoring/news/10885236/Googles-driverless-cars-to-be-allowed-on-roads-afterministers-rewrite-Highway-Code.html.
47. Brandom, R. Self-driving cars can navigate the road, but can they navigate the law? 2012 [cited 2014 June 23]; Available from: http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/14/3766218/ self-driving-cars-google-volvo-law. 48. Kilcarr, S. New challenges face V2V and V2I connection e " orts. 2014 [cited 2014 June 21]; Available from: http://fleetowner.com/blog/new-challenges-face-v2v-and-v2iconnection-e " orts. 49. Shook, H.B., Driverless vehicles: liability and new automotive technologies. 2013, In-house Lawyer. 50. Shankland, S. US to push for mandatory car-to-car wireless communications. 2014 [cited 2014 June 22]; Available from: http://www.cnet.com/news/us-to-push-for-mandatorycar-to-car-wireless-communications/. 51. Annaswamy, T.S.a.A.M., Vehicle-to-Vechicle/Vehicle-to-Infrastruture Control. The Impact of Control Technology, 2011. 52. Chatfield, T., When is it ethical to hand our decisions over to machines? And when is external automation a step too far?, in Aeon. 2014. 53. Goodwin, W.C.a.A. Six reasons to love, or loathe, autonomous cars. 2013 [cited 2014 June , 2014]; Available from: http://www.cnet.com/news/six-reasons-to-love-or-loatheautonomous-cars/.
Gantt Chart
Title
E! ort
1) Initial project research and data collection
2w
2) Investigation
2w
2.1) Ciritical legal and ethical investigation
1w
2.2) Technical investigation
1w
3) Distribute surveys and conduct interview 4) Interim Report 5) Christmas vacation 6) Assemble and relate information 7) Virtual Simulation
7.1) Formulate solutions on paper 7.2) Computer Simulation 7.3) Easter vacation 8) Physical Simulation
Nov 2014
Dec 2014
Jan 2015
2w 4w 2d 3w 0.25h 1w 12w 4d 7.5h
3w 6w 3w 4d 7.5h 10w
8.1) Procure components for physical simulation
2w
8.2) Gather information on testing techniques
2w
8.3) Assemble the prototype
2w
8.4) Testing
2w
8 .5 ) B u! er period
Oct 2014
2w
9) Final Report and Submission
7w
9.1) Writing the final report
3w
9.2) Prepare presentation
3w
9.3) Preparing poster
1w
Mind Map
Feb 2015
Mar 2015
Apr 2015
May 20
Mind Map
Components?
Cost
What is the best micro controller to use?
Physical Simulation
Computer simulation and
Development of a universal
testing
algorithm for the real-world
TIme Thorough investigation of all Ethical Information
ethical confusions/ misconceptions
What is needed to
Restrictions
prevent/resolve issues? Legal Information Advantages / Freedoms
Prospect of new statutes to support the cause
Can we implement it only for the people who need it? eg.
Is it necessary? Autonomous car crashes
blind, elderly etc.
Key Issues
Possibility of new methods / Who is to blame?
advances
Why/ How does it happen? Immediate questions and steps to be taken
Printed and Published
Open question interviews
Feasibility, Modularity and Security Concepts from Articles, Journals, Film etc.
material
Surveys and Questionnaires
Technology
Information gathering of current findings
