Autonomous Vehicles and Embedded Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Framing Machine Driving Decisions

With the advent of autonomous vehicles society will need to confront a new set of risks which, for the first time, includes the ability of socially embedded forms of artificial intelligence to make complex risk mitigation decisions: decisions that will ultimately engender tangible life and death con...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Martin Cunneen, Martin Mullins, Finbarr Murphy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019-07-01
Series:Applied Artificial Intelligence
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08839514.2019.1600301
_version_ 1797684910681489408
author Martin Cunneen
Martin Mullins
Finbarr Murphy
author_facet Martin Cunneen
Martin Mullins
Finbarr Murphy
author_sort Martin Cunneen
collection DOAJ
description With the advent of autonomous vehicles society will need to confront a new set of risks which, for the first time, includes the ability of socially embedded forms of artificial intelligence to make complex risk mitigation decisions: decisions that will ultimately engender tangible life and death consequences. Since AI decisionality is inherently different to human decision-making processes, questions are therefore raised regarding how AI weighs decisions, how we are to mediate these decisions, and what such decisions mean in relation to others. Therefore, society, policy, and end-users, need to fully understand such differences. While AI decisions can be contextualised to specific meanings, significant challenges remain in terms of the technology of AI decisionality, the conceptualisation of AI decisions, and the extent to which various actors understand them. This is particularly acute in terms of analysing the benefits and risks of AI decisions. Due to the potential safety benefits, autonomous vehicles are often presented as significant risk mitigation technologies. There is also a need to understand the potential new risks which autonomous vehicle driving decisions may present. Such new risks are framed as decisional limitations in that artificial driving intelligence will lack certain decisional capacities. This is most evident in the inability to annotate and categorise the driving environment in terms of human values and moral understanding. In both cases there is a need to scrutinise how autonomous vehicle decisional capacity is conceptually framed and how this, in turn, impacts a wider grasp of the technology in terms of risks and benefits. This paper interrogates the significant shortcomings in the current framing of the debate, both in terms of safety discussions and in consideration of AI as a moral actor, and offers a number of ways forward.
first_indexed 2024-03-12T00:36:36Z
format Article
id doaj.art-dced6407b69242c98729bfaa862efe7d
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 0883-9514
1087-6545
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-12T00:36:36Z
publishDate 2019-07-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series Applied Artificial Intelligence
spelling doaj.art-dced6407b69242c98729bfaa862efe7d2023-09-15T09:33:57ZengTaylor & Francis GroupApplied Artificial Intelligence0883-95141087-65452019-07-0133870673110.1080/08839514.2019.16003011600301Autonomous Vehicles and Embedded Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Framing Machine Driving DecisionsMartin Cunneen0Martin Mullins1Finbarr Murphy2University of LimerickUniversity of LimerickUniversity of LimerickWith the advent of autonomous vehicles society will need to confront a new set of risks which, for the first time, includes the ability of socially embedded forms of artificial intelligence to make complex risk mitigation decisions: decisions that will ultimately engender tangible life and death consequences. Since AI decisionality is inherently different to human decision-making processes, questions are therefore raised regarding how AI weighs decisions, how we are to mediate these decisions, and what such decisions mean in relation to others. Therefore, society, policy, and end-users, need to fully understand such differences. While AI decisions can be contextualised to specific meanings, significant challenges remain in terms of the technology of AI decisionality, the conceptualisation of AI decisions, and the extent to which various actors understand them. This is particularly acute in terms of analysing the benefits and risks of AI decisions. Due to the potential safety benefits, autonomous vehicles are often presented as significant risk mitigation technologies. There is also a need to understand the potential new risks which autonomous vehicle driving decisions may present. Such new risks are framed as decisional limitations in that artificial driving intelligence will lack certain decisional capacities. This is most evident in the inability to annotate and categorise the driving environment in terms of human values and moral understanding. In both cases there is a need to scrutinise how autonomous vehicle decisional capacity is conceptually framed and how this, in turn, impacts a wider grasp of the technology in terms of risks and benefits. This paper interrogates the significant shortcomings in the current framing of the debate, both in terms of safety discussions and in consideration of AI as a moral actor, and offers a number of ways forward.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08839514.2019.1600301
spellingShingle Martin Cunneen
Martin Mullins
Finbarr Murphy
Autonomous Vehicles and Embedded Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Framing Machine Driving Decisions
Applied Artificial Intelligence
title Autonomous Vehicles and Embedded Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Framing Machine Driving Decisions
title_full Autonomous Vehicles and Embedded Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Framing Machine Driving Decisions
title_fullStr Autonomous Vehicles and Embedded Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Framing Machine Driving Decisions
title_full_unstemmed Autonomous Vehicles and Embedded Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Framing Machine Driving Decisions
title_short Autonomous Vehicles and Embedded Artificial Intelligence: The Challenges of Framing Machine Driving Decisions
title_sort autonomous vehicles and embedded artificial intelligence the challenges of framing machine driving decisions
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08839514.2019.1600301
work_keys_str_mv AT martincunneen autonomousvehiclesandembeddedartificialintelligencethechallengesofframingmachinedrivingdecisions
AT martinmullins autonomousvehiclesandembeddedartificialintelligencethechallengesofframingmachinedrivingdecisions
AT finbarrmurphy autonomousvehiclesandembeddedartificialintelligencethechallengesofframingmachinedrivingdecisions