Ethics and Self-driving Cars: A White Paper on Responsible Innovation in Automated Driving Systems

In the context of the knowledge agenda automated driving (knowledgeagenda.connekt.nl/engels/), Rijkswaterstaat commissioned TU Delft to write a white paper on ethical issues in automated driving to provide a basis for discussion and some recommendations on how to take into account this subject when deploying automated vehicles.In this paper I present, discuss, and offer some recommendations on some major ethical issues presented by the introduction on the public road of automated driving systems (ADS), aka self-driving cars. The recommended methodology is that of Responsible Innovation and Value-Sensitive Design. The concept of “meaningful human control” is introduced and proposed as a basis for a policy approach which prevents morally unacceptable risks for human safety, and anticipates issues of moral and legal responsibility for accidents. The importance of the individual rights to safety, access to mobility and privacy is highlighted too.Ethics & Philosophy of Technolog