One of the biggest barriers to the development of autonomous cars is the moral dilemma over the question whom will autonomous cars sacrifice in case of an unavoidable accident – the driver or pedestrians?

If it cannot avoid the collision, the self-steering car of the future under the Mercedes-Benz logo will be programmed so that it primarily protects the driver and not the people who might come by.

That is the direction of which it was decided to follow precisely in this German car manufacturer in the development of the next generation of autonomous vehicles. This way moral dilemmas would not “burden” the car which in any situation will be programmed above all to preserve the lives of the individuals located inside the vehicle.

Precisely this question of moral choice is a key constraint in the development of smart cars. Let’s imagine a situation where the car is out of control, because, for example, it could hit a group of children at the bus stop, or if it changes its course it could hit a cyclist and kill him. What should the car do in a case like this?

The decision of Mercedes is such that it would be chosen that direction in which it would be least likely that someone inside the vehicle will be hurt or killed.

The team at Mercedes says that even if the car decided to sacrifice the driver and the passengers, that maybe would not help the group of children who are also in danger. Then we would lose the people whom we know with certainty that we could have saved.

From Mercedes is confirmed that this is a difficult but important hypothetical dilemma that the auto industry has to fight, and with the development of autonomous vehicles the number of such dilemmas will become increasingly larger. However, in this situation account should be taken of the fact that millions of lives will be saved by autonomous vehicles due to accidents caused by careless drivers.

Self-steering cars, just like us, will find themselves in situations in which an instant reaction is important. But autonomous vehicles will not have our faults. They will make decisions quickly, will not get tired, and will not be affected by one or two glasses of alcohol surplus.