If one acquired a brand-new car in 1990 for thirty thousand dollars, they probably got a decent amount of options such as nice leather, radio presets, automatic windows, and cruise control. However, a brand-new car in 2017 for thirty thousand dollars can come with a plethora of computer operated accessories that simply weren’t offered in the 90s. In many ways, the car industry is at the forefront of innovation and ingenuity. For example, many new cars have been designed to come equipped with parking and lane centering features that allow a car to automatically park or keep you a safe distance away from drivers when on the freeway. Logically, it seems the next step in technology for cars is to go fully autonomous, and many companies and universities
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Perhaps from an egoist point of view, a setting could be derived to protect the driver at all costs no matter what situation is represented. However, it would be nearly impossible to have a setting to represent a Utilitarian point of view. To explain this, consider a situation where a driver is sitting in their autonomous vehicle driving at about 40mph on a one-way street surrounded by dense forest and light poles. The dilemma occurs when a man rides out on a bike right in front of the car. There is not a sufficient distance for the car to stop on time, but it calculates that it can swerve off the road into the dense forest to miss the man. At that speed, the driver is likely to be seriously injured especially because the road is barricaded by trees on either side; however, the man on the bike will most certainly die if there is a collision. An egoist setting would keep the car on the road and kill the biker; however, it is impossible to know what a utilitarian setting would do. Utilitarianism would look at a situation and pick the outcome with the most utility or well-being for all. Perhaps the biker is the father and sole provider of a family of five kids doing everything he can to pay the bills for his family while the driver is an alcoholic who has thrown away his life and is in and out of the hospital every month. In this scenario, it makes sense for the driver to be put in danger, but the scenario could easily be switched, which would render a situation where the car would stay on the road and kill the
Perhaps from an egoist point of view, a setting could be derived to protect the driver at all costs no matter what situation is represented. However, it would be nearly impossible to have a setting to represent a Utilitarian point of view. To explain this, consider a situation where a driver is sitting in their autonomous vehicle driving at about 40mph on a one-way street surrounded by dense forest and light poles. The dilemma occurs when a man rides out on a bike right in front of the car. There is not a sufficient distance for the car to stop on time, but it calculates that it can swerve off the road into the dense forest to miss the man. At that speed, the driver is likely to be seriously injured especially because the road is barricaded by trees on either side; however, the man on the bike will most certainly die if there is a collision. An egoist setting would keep the car on the road and kill the biker; however, it is impossible to know what a utilitarian setting would do. Utilitarianism would look at a situation and pick the outcome with the most utility or well-being for all. Perhaps the biker is the father and sole provider of a family of five kids doing everything he can to pay the bills for his family while the driver is an alcoholic who has thrown away his life and is in and out of the hospital every month. In this scenario, it makes sense for the driver to be put in danger, but the scenario could easily be switched, which would render a situation where the car would stay on the road and kill the