“Even if it’s a rare problem, autonomous car manufacturers still need to specify some action [in the event of an unavoidable crash], and the wrong one could lead to massive lawsuits and alarmist headlines,” says Patrick Lin, director of the ethics and emerging sciences group at California Polytechnic State University.
Mr Lin has already talked to several carmakers including Daimler, BMW and Tesla, as well as technology company Google, about the ethical issues. Although he is barred from revealing the nature of the talks, he says “the [car] industry is generally much more sensitive to these ethical issues than outside observers. It’s their money, jobs and reputation at stake, after all.”"
- Date Published:03/01/2015
- Original Publication:The Financial Times