Self-driving car dilemmas reveal that moral choices are not universal
Self-driving car dilemmas reveal that moral choices are not universal

        

        
            
        
        
            
                
                    
                        

    
        
            
                NEWS
                24 October 2018
                
            

            

            
                
                
                    Survey maps global variations in ethics for programming autonomous vehicles. 
                
            
        
        
            
    
        
            
                
                    Amy Maxmen
                
                
                
                    
                
            
        
    

        
    
    


            
            


        
            
                
                    
                        

                        
                    
                
            

            
                

                

                
                    When a driver slams on the brakes to avoid hitting a pedestrian crossing the road illegally, she is making a moral decision that shifts risk from the pedestrian to the people in the car. Self-driving cars might soon have to make such ethical judgments on their own — but settling on a universal moral code for the vehicles could be a thorny task, suggests a survey of 2.3 million people from around the world.
                    
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                Nature 562, 469-470 (2018)
                doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07135-0

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