IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2017 - 72

This rule assigns moral responsibility to designers
among others for "foreseeable effects." It is unclear,
however, how predictable a self-driving car's (and its
passenger's) behavior will be, especially in dynamic or
unanticipated circumstances. What a designer can reasonably be expected to foresee is an ongoing source of
debate, which is likely to be even more contentious
with regards to emerging technologies such as self-driving cars. For example, "foreseeable use" and the
designer's "intended use" are not necessarily the same
thing [52]. Yet foreseeing how the user and other entities may interact with a self-driving car is particularly
important, especially during testing phases; testing that
ignores possible use cases will be far less effective.
■ Rule 2 - "The shared responsibility of computing
artifacts is not a zero-sum game. The responsibility
of an individual is not reduced simply because
more people become involved in designing, developing, deploying, or using the artifact. Instead, a
person's responsibility includes being answerable
for the behaviors of the artifact and for the artifact's
effects after deployment, to the degree to which
these effects are reasonably foreseeable by that person." (emphasis added)

The people who design, develop, or
deploy a computing artifact are morally
responsible for that artifact, and for the
foreseeable effects of that artifact.

Given that the creation of a self-driving car will result
from the collective efforts of numerous individuals,
many of the designers will largely be anonymous to
users and the general public and perhaps even to
their co-designers. Designers may be tempted to say
their individual responsibility is "reduced" when the
technology behaves in a less than optimal, and perhaps dangerous, manner because of how many people are involved in the design (often referred to as
"the problem of many hands"), but that type of thinking might not be morally defensible.
Acknowledging that collective responsibility does not
negate individual responsibility is critical. Designers and
testers are part of a larger community of professionals
who have ethical responsibilities for their decisions
related to the self-driving car. Designers may experience
much external pressure from manufacturers, or others,
to weaken or ignore their responsibilities; yet they must

72

seek to uphold the tenets of what it means to be an ethical professional, accepting their individual professional
responsibilities.
■ Rule 3 - "People who knowingly use a particular
computing artifact are morally responsible for that
use." (emphasis added)
This rule applies to users but the concept of "knowingly
use" may be especially problematic in the case of selfdriving cars; for example, when, where, and how to
intervene may not be obvious to the human passengers
of self-driving cars, especially in a crisis situation. Along
related lines, how much knowledge about the technology's functioning is it reasonable to assume that users
have? Moreover, how transparent will companies be
about how the car is designed to behave when human
users circumvent its safety features (e.g., a parent places a child in the car without supervision)?
■ Rule 4 - "People who knowingly design, develop,
deploy, or use a computing artifact can do so responsibly only when they make a reasonable effort to
take into account the sociotechnical systems in
which the artifact is embedded." (emphasis added)
Placing the self-driving car on the road is not merely a
mundane, incremental step akin to introducing a newer
model of automobile. Self-driving cars will be embedded
in complex sociotechnical systems encompassing
designers, manufacturers, drivers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and regulators, as well as individual
vehicles, roadways, and complex monitoring and control
technologies. Interactions among drivers, passengers,
pedestrians, vehicles, devices both internal to the car
(such as GPS) and external (such as a sensor on the road
or a building), and the external environment coalesce into
the formation of a highly chaotic, difficult to predict system, especially considering how humans do not always
act rationally and can have vastly different risk tolerances
and behavioral patterns [53]-[54].
Moreover, not only will the technology of self-driving
cars reshape the interaction between car and driver but
its introduction will necessitate and be shaped by multifaceted social, legal, and political changes. Many macroethical factors will come into play (e.g., differing vehicle
types, infrastructure planning, and environmental planning); many policy decisions will need to be made. For
example, widespread use of self-driving cars could have
a significant impact on urban planning due to the
removal of parking spots [48]. In addition to vehicle
safety requirements, regulations will be needed in
terms of where the vehicles will be permitted to operate
and whether a licensed driver must be in the car [55].
Along these lines, many individuals might not have a
compelling need to obtain a driver's license and this
can have far-reaching effects, including if one travels to
a region that only has human-operated vehicles.

IEEE TEchnology and SocIETy MagazInE

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june 2017



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