It’s relatively easy to write computer code that directs the car how to respond to a sudden dilemma. The hard part is deciding what that response should be.

“The problem is,who’sdeterminingwhatwewant?” asks Jeffrey Miller, a University of Southern Californiaprofessorwhodevelopsdriverlessvehiclesoftware. “You’re not going to have 100 percent buy-in that says, ‘Hit the guy on the right.'”

Companiesthataretestingdriverlesscarsarenotfocusingon these moral questions.

Thecompanymostaggressivelydevelopingself-drivingcarsisn’tacarmakeratall. Google has invested heavily in the technology, driving hundreds of thousands of miles on roads and highways in tricked-out Priuses and Lexus SUVs. Leaders at the Silicon Valley giant have said they want to get the technology to the public by 2017.

For now, Google is focused on mastering the most common driving scenarios, programming the cars to drive defensively in hopes of avoiding the rare instances when an accident is truly unavoidable.

“People are philosophizing about it, but the question about real-world capability and real-world events that can affect us, we really haven’t studied that issue,” said Ron Medford, the director of safety for Google’s self-driving car project.

[…]

Technological advances will only add to the complexity. Especially when in-car sensors become so acute they can, for example, differentiate between a motorcyclist wearing a helmet and a companion riding without one. If a collision is inevitable, should the car hit the person with a helmet because the injury risk might be less? But that would penalize the person who took extra precautions.

Lin said he has discussed the ethics of driverlesscarswithGoogleas well as automakers includingTesla, Nissan and BMW. As far as he knows, only BMW has formed an internal group to study the issue.

Uwe Higgen, head of BMW’s group technology office in Silicon Valley, said the automaker has brought together specialists in technology, ethics, social impact, and the law to discuss a range of issues related to carsthatdoever-moredrivinginsteadof people.

“This is a constant process going forward,” Higgen said.

Ref: Self-driving cars: safer, but what of their morals – HuffingtonPost