# Machine Ethics and Automated Vehicles

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.15665 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.15665/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 29 Oct 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Responsible AI Pattern Catalogue: A Collection of Best Practices for AI Governance and Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.04963/) (2022)
- [Fairness and Sequential Decision Making: Limits, Lessons, and Opportunities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.05753/) (2023)
- [Ethical AI: Towards Defining a Collective Evaluation Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.00233/) (2025)
- [Towards Developing Ethical Reasoners: Integrating Probabilistic Reasoning and Decision-Making for Complex AI Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.21250/) (2025)
- [A Review of Autonomous Road Vehicle Integrated Approaches to an Emergency Obstacle Avoidance Maneuver](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.09446/) (2021)
- [AI and the Sense of Self](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05576/) (2022)
- [Vision-Integrated LLMs for Autonomous Driving Assistance : Human Performance Comparison and Trust Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.06843/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Road vehicle travel at a reasonable speed involves some risk, even when using computer-controlled driving with failure-free hardware and perfect sensing. A fully-automated vehicle must continuously decide how to allocate this risk without a human driver's oversight. These are ethical decisions, particularly in instances where an automated vehicle cannot avoid crashing. In this chapter, I introduce the concept of moral behavior for an automated vehicle, argue the need for research in this area through responses to anticipated critiques, and discuss relevant applications from machine ethics and moral modeling research.