Many car manufacturers are working on software and hardware solutions to enable autonomous and automated driving. In the coming years, autonomous shuttle systems will be a standard component of public transport.

The current legal situation regarding the handling of autonomous driving systems stipulates that level 4 autonomous vehicles must have an accident avoidance system. Specifically, this must include:
 

• Harm reduction or harm avoidance

• Prioritisation of human life

• No weighting of human lives based on individual characteristics

However, the interpretation of these points is questionable in some areas, which is why it is important to refer back to the ethical debate on the trolley dilemma. We would be happy to support you in this regard, not only in terms of how exactly the system of accident avoidance can be designed, but also in terms of how ethics can be implemented in concrete use cases.

Our scientific work in this area includes, for example, the following publications:

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• Kriebitz, A., Max, R., & Lütge, C. (2022). The German Act on Autonomous Driving: why ethics still matters. Philosophy & Technology, 35(2), 1-13.

• Luetge, C., Kriebitz, A. & Max, R. (2019). Ethical and legal challenges of autonomous driving. Philosophical Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, 1-18.

• Boch, A., Hohma, E., & Trauth, R. Towards an Accountability Framework for AI: Ethical and Legal Considerations.