MIT researchers created an online game to determine how people around the world think autonomous vehicles should handle moral dilemmas, reports Laurel Wamsley for NPR. “Before we allow our cars to make ethical decisions, we need to have a global conversation to express our preferences to the companies that will design moral algorithms,” the researchers explain, “and to the policymakers that will regulate them.”
BBC News reporter Chris Fox writes that MIT researchers surveyed people about how an autonomous vehicle should operate when presented with different ethical dilemmas. Fox explains that the researchers hope their findings will “spark a ‘global conversation’ about the moral decisions self-driving vehicles will have to make.”
MIT researchers conducted a global survey to determine how people felt about the ethical dilemmas presented by autonomous vehicles, The Economist reports. Prof. Iyad Rahwan explains that he and his colleagues thought it was important to survey people from around the world as “nobody was really investigating what regular people thought about this topic.”
Popular Mechanics reporter Dave Grossman writes that MIT researchers surveyed more than 2 million people to gauge people’s opinions on the ethics of autonomous vehicles. Grossman explains that the researchers believe their findings demonstrate how “people across the globe are eager to participate in the debate around self-driving cars and want to see algorithms that reflect their personal beliefs.”
Using an online platform known as the “Moral Machine,” researchers at the Media Lab have surveyed more than two million people from 233 countries about how an autonomous vehicle should respond in a crash. “The Moral Machine game is similar to the infamous trolley problem,” writes Tracey Lindeman for Motherboard, “but calibrated for the autonomous car.”
A new study from Media Lab researchers highlights the result of an online survey that asked volunteers how a self-driving vehicle should respond to a variety of potential accidents. “Moral responses to unavoidable damage vary greatly around the world in a way that poses a big challenge for companies planning to build driverless cars,” writes Alex Hern in The Guardian.
A new paper by MIT researchers details the results of a survey on an online platform they developed, which asked respondents to make ethical decisions about fictional self-driving car crashes. “Millions of users from 233 countries and territories took the quiz, making 40 million ethical decisions in total,” writes James Vincent of The Verge.
Carolyn Johnson writes for The Washington Post about a new MIT study “that asked people how a self-driving car should respond when faced with a variety of extreme trade-offs.” According to Prof. Iyad Rahwan, “regulating AI will be different from traditional products, because the machines will have autonomy and the ability to adapt,” explains Johnson.
Prof. John Leonard speaks with Bloomberg News about his work with the Toyota Research Institute on developing a system that combines machine learning technologies and sensors to make vehicles safer. “Imagine if you had the most vigilant and capably trained driver in the world that could take over in a situation where a teenager took a curve too fast,” says Leonard of the inspiration for the system.
Jeremy Gregory, executive director of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, writes for USA Today about how the quality and condition of a roadway impacts a vehicle’s fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. “Actions that improve road design and conditions can reduce vehicle fuel consumption and emissions,” argues Gregory.
In an article for Wired about distracted driving, Aarian Marshall highlights how MIT researchers are studying how drivers use new automated driving systems. “This is about human-centered development: leveraging the human element and integrating it with advances in automation,” explains Research Engineer Bryan Reimer.
Research Engineer Bryan Reimer speaks with Bloomberg Radio about autonomous vehicle safety following the announcement that nuTonomy will soon test its vehicles on Boston streets. Citing the successful partnership between city officials and autonomous vehicle startups, Reimer stresses the importance of companies demonstrating “that they can walk before they can run.”
In response to a reader’s question about self-driving cars, Mercury News reporter Gary Richards describes new technology in the works by MIT researchers to allow, “driverless cars to change lanes more like human drivers do.”
NBC Mach reporter Tom Metcalfe writes that MIT researchers are developing autonomous boats that could be used to ferry goods and people and could help ease traffic congestion. “We believe that with fleets of very agile autonomous boats we can offload some street traffic onto the waterways,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.
Researchers from MIT's CSAIL and Senseable City Lab “have designed a fleet of 3-D printed autonomous boats [that] could eventually taxi people and deliver goods,” reports CNBC’s Erin Black. The boats “can also be equipped to monitor a city's water quality,” Black explains.