A Code of Ethics for Self-Driving Vehicles

Abstract

As self-driving technology advances, relevant ethical frameworks must be developed to guide the engineering profession. This paper provides a deeper understanding of the ethical issues associated with self-driving vehicles. It reviews the relevant literature which makes it clear that there are several key ethical issues which must inform the development of a code of ethics specific to this field. These can be grouped into the four key principles: responsibility, safety, transparency and sustainability. The proposed code of ethics is then applied to a specific case study to evaluate it. The case study introduced is that of self-driving cars as rental cars with specific reference to the New Zealand context. This case study provides a complex real-world situation for the proposed code to be evaluated with. Applying the code of ethics to this case study indicates that the proposed code of ethics offers a relevant ethical framework to guide the engineering profession in self-driving vehicles.