EMERGENCY-VRD – Moral emergencies and autonomous driving

Approximately 90 percent of traffic accidents are due to human error. Autonomous vehicles therefore hold great potential for road safety. However, even innovative risk minimization technologies will never be able to prevent all accidents. Self-driving cars will even encounter dilemma situations in which similar harm occurs as a result of all available options for action (»moral emergencies«). The project addresses the question how autonomous vehicles should be programmed for such moral emergencies.

This will be achieved through a combination of research in mathematical engineering, empirical and normative research. Moral emergencies will be systematically investigated in an elaborated virtual reality environment that employ innovative impartiality settings. Both a driving simulator and the Vehicle in the Loop of the Bundeswehr University Munich are used. Ethical and legal conclusions for the regulation of autonomous vehicles will then be based on the results of the empirical studies.

Project duration: 01.01.2021 bis 31.12.2024