Ethical Discussion: The Trolley Problem By Patrick Lin

In this article, Patrick Lin addresses a problem that has, in recent years, come to the the forefront of ethical discussion: The Trolley Problem, and all the stipulations that come with it. The problem itself has existed in many forms throughout the years in the study of ethics, but has recently become much more relevant with the impending widespread adoption of self driving vehicles. Lin’s topic of adjustable ethics settings in these vehicles highlight the absurdity of attempting to find a “correct” solution to this ambiguous problem with no universally accepted answer. From a legal perspective this problem becomes one of liability. Who is responsible for injury, loss of life, or damage of property in the case of an accident caused by a self driving vehicle? The manufacturing company? If that were the case, then, logically, companies would likely not pursue this technology for fear of being sued for every problem that arose due to decisions the piloting software makes. Lin argues that car manufacturers should be immune to lawsuits of this nature,

A utilitarian (or even the egalitarian) would most likely conclude that in the trolley problem, the solution which saves the most people would produce the best outcome, regardless of whether that choice is to kill fewer pedestrians or to kill the passenger(s) and avoid pedestrian death. Contrastingly, most people would be strongly against entering a vehicle that was programmed to kill them in certain situations. In this case, many people would likely be more receptive to egoist ideas and prioritize their own lives over those of strangers. This, in fact, is exactly what car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has decided to do by announcing that their self driving vehicles will, indeed, prioritize the lives of the vehicle’s passengers over those of