Making the Right Turn
Engineering Ethics Into Driverless Vehicles
The advent of the self-driving car promises to significantly reduce the 1.25 million traffic deaths that occur each year worldwide by removing their primary cause -- human error. However, this technology poses some ethical dilemmas inasmuch as these machines will have to make decisions regarding whom to save or protect in the the event of a collision. Those creating the vehicle's algorithm will literally decide who shall live and who shall die. This lesson aims to apply ancient Talmudic considerations to a very modern problem.
