A safety-case approach to the ethics of autonomous vehicles. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Menon, Catherine; Alexander, Rob
• Is Part Of: Safety & reliability. Volume 39:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 33
• Page End: 58
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Safety -- ethics -- autonomous vehicles -- risk; Reliability (Engineering) -- Periodicals; System safety -- Periodicals; Risk assessment -- Periodicals; Industrial safety -- Periodicals; Industrial safety; Reliability (Engineering); Risk assessment; System safety; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 620.00452
• DOI: 10.1080/09617353.2019.1697918
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0961-7353

Abstract

Abstract: Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) have significant ethical and safety implications. Questions of informed consent and risk acceptance are of primary importance, as is an explicit identification of the ethical principles underlying these decisions. In this paper we present a process framework for producing an ethics assurance case, which can be used to translate ethical imperatives into design decisions and safety management practices. The process and resultant assurance case integrate ethical considerations into the wider engineering lifecycle, providing a tool to demonstrate that design and safety management decisions reflect an identified ethical position.