Assignment:
What do Self-Driving Cars Mean for Society's Stakeholders?
Please watch the following TED-Ed four-minute video:
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-ethical-dilemma-of-self-driving-cars-patrick-lin
Mercedes has answered the video's not-so-hypothetical questions in the design of their self-driving cars (also called "Autonomous Vehicles" or "AV").
Why Mercedes plans to let its self-driving cars kill pedestrians in dicey situations (October 12, 2016)
https://www.businessinsider.com/mercedes-benz-self-driving-cars-programmed-save-driver-2016-10?r=UK&IR=T
At the end of 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation sought public comment to create regulations around AV, specifically noting the ethical questions that arise:
"The self-driving car raises more possibilities and more questions than perhaps any other transportation innovation under present discussion. That is as it should be. Possessing the potential to uproot personal mobility as we know it, to make it safer and even more ubiquitous than conventional automobiles and perhaps even more efficient, self-driving cars have become the archetype of our future transportation. Still, important concerns emerge. Will they fully replace the human driver? What ethical judgments will they be called upon to make? What socioeconomic impacts flow from such a dramatic change? Will they disrupt the nature of privacy and security?"
Federal Automated Vehicles Policy: Accelerating the Next Revolution in Roadway Safety (U.S. Department of Transportation, September 2016)
https://www.transportation.gov/AV
Your task in this final, full Analysis Paper? To write a memo in the form of a report discussing the ethical ramifications of AVs. Specifically:
1. Please identify all the relevant, important ethical issues you can think of that are raised by the development and mass marketing of AVs. Don't forget to include both positive views of AVs as well as concerns.
2. Then, identify the stakeholders affected by the development and mass marketing of AVs and how they are affected. (Remember to include yourself as a stakeholder!)
3. Once you have identified the ethical issues at stake and the stakeholders affected, please fully discuss your recommendations for the development and mass marketing of AVs - you may recommend any specific rules, laws, or actions you see fit. In your role here, you are a policy maker taking the consideration of various stakeholders into account. Be sure to fully justify your recommendations and support your arguments.