1. An Introductionto Autonomous SystemAutonomoussystem changes its behavior in response to precipitous events during working. During the recentyears the demand for these systems is enhanced incredibly, with high profilesuccesses in both civilian and military applications. This system is trulytransformational, favors both cost and risk reduction.
The main advantage ofthis technology is to enable its capabilities in the areas directly where humancontrol is not possible (DPWatson, 2015). In most casesthere is a vast panorama of autonomy, as the extent of human interaction withthe system can vary; controlled and supervised. Automatic system can onlyperform a limited set of functions instructed by its operator, while fullyautomated system performs a wide range of functions without human inputs, keyadvantage is to think and make decisions independently (McCarthy, 2009).The key advantages of theautonomous system depends largely upon its utilization, although there areseveral advantages that are widely applicable. Research in autonomy mainlydepends upon its particular application domain. Autonomous systems can performa wide variety of tasks in cost effective way as compared to humans. Their keyadvantage is to eliminate human error and perform the tasks in accurately andefficient way.
In contempt of its benefits,the autonomous system is the debatable topic on ethics of its widespreadimplementations. This paper will discuss some of the important details relatedto ethical and legal concerns of autonomous road vehicles – in addition to thepotential causes of mistrust in the social acceptance of these systems.1.1 AutonomousRoad VehicleA vehicle which is capable of performing thefunctions of ordinary vehicle without a human operator and are legally allowedto travel on public roads. These vehicles include buses and trucks in additionto passenger vehicles (such as Google’s self-driving car and Tesla’s Autopilotfunction). Table 1 illustrates different levels of autonomy within roadvehicles. level Name Narrative definition Lateral & longitudinal Vehicle motion control Object and event detection response (OEDR) Operational design domain (ODD) 0 No Automation Full time performance by human driver of all aspects of the dynamic driving task Human driver Human driver Human driver 1 Driver Assistance Driver-assistance system for either steering or acceleration/deceleration only Human driver & system Human driver Human driver 2 Partial Automation Driver assistance system for both acceleration/deceleration. Human driver performs all remaining aspects system Human driver Human driver 3 Conditional Automation All automatic but human driver will respond appropriately to request System System Fallback ready user 4 High Automation Automated driving system for all aspects of the dynamic driving task, even if human driver does not respond appropriately to a request to intervene system system system 5 Full Automation Automated driving system for all aspects of the dynamic driving task, under all roadway and environmental conditions system system system Table1: SAE Levels ofDriving Automation for On-Road Vehicles (September 2016)Fully automated vehicles are capable ofhandling all driving jobs without any input from the passenger, so human ispowerless to change the decision of autonomous system.
Some researches tell usover 90% of road accidents are due to human error, so a fully automated vehiclereduces the accidental risk. It has been predicted that the autonomous vehiclescould reduce congestion and emission (POSTNOTE 2013).This paper will discuss on fully automated carsfor personal use and ethical, social and legal concerns associated with thesedriverless vehicles. An autonomous driverless vehicle (level 5) is consideredto be fully automatic vehicle for non-commercial use and a human driver is usedto describe a car with no automation.According to ERTRAC, by 2030 all the vehicleson the public roads will be fully automated as shown in Fig. 1 2. Are Autonomous systems a ‘Smart’ MoveBefore autonomous systems becomespart of our daily life, various legal and ethical concerns must be debated andclarified.
This section will provide a comprehensive overview of some of theconcerns related to fully automated vehicles.2.1 Social AcceptanceThe fatality rate in the developed countries is decliningand in the developing and undeveloped countries it is climbing up.
Currentresearch trends indicate, road accidents will be the fifth leading cause ofdeath by 2030 (WorldHealth Organization, 2013). Automateddriving vehicles have tedency to resolve these issues by increasing safety onthe public roads while decreasing the traffic congestion, gas emission and fuelconsumption. (Anderson etal., 2014). In fact, accidents have already took place inpartially autonomous vehicles such as a collision between Google’s self-drivingcar and a manually driven bus which occurred in February 2016 (Krol, 2016).
In fullyautonomous cars the main reason for the accident is,drivers have no option to manualoverride, could have a dominent influence on the lack of social acceptance.Some recent studies displays a little bit positive picture of the publicopinion about the fully automated vehicles (Begg, 2014; Casley et al., 2013;Howard & Dai, 2014; KPMG, 2013; Missel, 2014; Payre et al.
, 2014).2.2 Ethical ConsiderationsAutonomous vehices are more safer than human drivers but this is not alwaystrue and collision between the level 5 vehicles will most probably happen. Anautomated car cannot be programmed to carry out the correct actions on everyscenario, as the decisions it make will largely depends upon the algorithams,which is totally different from a decision how a human driver reacts to thesame scenario.
There are many questions to consider on ethical implications oddriverless vehicles, and the answers will vary from person to person. Some questionsinclude;· Who decides what will be the ethicalchoice in each scenario?· Should automated vehicles onlyprotect passengers in all scenarios?· Which is better option; fullyautonomous or partially autonomous?· Who will be responsible forcertification of autonomous system2.3 New Policies and Ethical implications 2.3.1 Autonomous vehiclesThis is the need of hour tothink about the reality of autonomous system and also their positive andnegative impacts.
Autonomous vehicle technology is still a new concept, wherefully automated cars will not be available to the public before 2030. There areno current legislations how to deal with the road accidents even with oneautomated car.The Vienna Convention onRoad Traffic (1968) is used to govern UK traffic, and this states that a drivermust be in control of his vehicle (POSTNOTE, 2013).
This rule is not applied directlyto the autonomous vehicle, so amendment in the rules is must to accommodate thewider scale deployment.Before the fully automatedcars launched, these must be tested on the public roads. The department fortransport (DfT) is keen to develop these vehicles, and has reviewed his currentlegislations on testing autonomous vehicles on public roads. According to thecurrent UK rules, these will not prevent vehicles being tested on public roads (Departmentfor Transport, 2015).
3.0 ConclusionBefore the autonomousvehicles fully launched, their public perception should be changed. The UK governmentis taking initiative to review his current rules and allowed to test thevehicles on public roads. People has still reservations on accepting thesevehicles.A comprehensive set ofrules are not developed to ensure that the autonomous vehicles makes thecorrect and ethical decision in every scenario. An autonomous vehicle willnever be 100% perfect, and as a result the critical decisions are made regardingwhose lives are put at risk.Despite of uncertainty insome of above questions, insurance companies are likely to reduce premiums dueto the projected decrease in the number of accidents from the introduction ofautonomous vehicles.
