Test-Driving the Future

Diane Michelfelder is professor of philosophy at Macalester College. Her scholarly interests focus on the ethical dimensions of our relations to, and the design of, Internet-embedded technologies and technological systems. A past president of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, she is currently co-editor-in-chief of that society’s journal, Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology.

• AcknowledgementsPreface1.Test-Driving the Future: Ordinary Environments and the Ethics of Technological ChangeDiane P. Michelfelder 2.A Postphenomenology of Electric, Self-Driving and Shared VehiclesGalit Wellner3.The Ethics of Crossing the Street Robert Kirkman4.Who is Responsible if the Vehicle Itself is Driving?Sven Ove Hansson5.The Ethics of Transitioning Towards a Driverless Future: Traffic Risks and the Choice Among Cars with Different Levels of Automation Sven Nyholm6.Stop Saying that Driverless Cars will Eliminate Driver DistractionRobert Rosenberger7.Autonomous Vehicles and Environmental Justice: Addressing the Challenges Ahead Shane Epting8.Vehicles of Change: The Role of Public Sector Regulation on the Road to Autonomous Vehicles. Patrick Schmidt and Jeremy Carp9.Planes, Trains, and Flying Taxis: Ethics and the Lure of Autonomous VehiclesJoseph Herkert, Jason Borenstein, and Keith Miller10.Experiencing the Future: A Phenomenological Exploration of Automated V

Edited by Michelfelder, this fascinating collection offers philosophical essays on the dilemmas presented by autonomy in vehicles. The book is the ninth volume in the publisher's "Philosophy, Technology and Society" series. These essays ask questions not about how we will achieve vehicular autonomy, but about the ramifications of autonomous vehicles. When computers and artificial intelligence take the helm of a multiton, fast-moving vehicle, who is responsible for an accident? What value does the vehicle's intelligence put on the life of the vehicle's occupants as opposed to that of a pedestrian, or the occupants of another vehicle? Autonomous vehicles may be touted for the safety factors they can bring to roads throughout the world, but what is to be given up in exchange for that safety? The contributions collected in this volume can be excellent springboards for considering the ethical conundrums of advancing technology, potentially useful, for example, as supporting literature for philosophical or argumentative student essay assignments. Students and professionals alike will appreciate this book. Highly recommended. All readers.