Robot-Car Ethics Need Urgent Societal Review, Bill Ford Says
- Automakers should develop rules with government, academics
- Cars will make life-and-death decisions, Ford chairman says
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The great-grandson of Henry Ford called on the auto industry and public institutions to address ethical issues emerging in a world where robot cars will make life-and-death decisions in roadway crashes -- and to do it soon.
“These cars will have the ability to process data and make decisions much faster than we will as humans,” said Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., which has promised to have robot taxis on the road by 2021. “No individual company is going to program these vehicles with a set of ethics that isn’t bought into by society at large.”