Moral Behavior of Automated Vehicles: The Impact on Product Perception

Abstract

With further development of automation, more responsibilities will be transferred from users to technology. Consequently, algorithms of highly automated vehicles should be programmed to behave similarly to the affect- and intuition-based reasoning of human drivers. This includes making decisions in various exceptional circumstances, such as moral dilemmas. We assume that the perceived quality of a holistic driving experience is dependent on the accordance of vehicles’ moral and ethical decisions with users’ expectations concerning values and attitudes. In this work, we discuss implementation strategies for moral behavior in automated driving systems in order to fulfill users’ needs and match their values. The reported findings are based on data from an online survey (n=330). We investigated how subjects assess moral decisions and the overall product experience. Initial results show tendencies among subjects in accepting a decision over life and death and significant dependencies concerning the overall product perception.