Executive abstract

• Pages: 4-5

EXECUTIVE ABSTRACT

This report presents the work of a European

Commission Expert Group established to

advise on specif‌ic ethical issues raised

by driverless mobility for road transport.

The report aims to promote a safe and

responsible transition to connected and

automated vehicles (CAVs) by supporting

stakeholders in the systematic inclusion of

ethical considerations in the development

and regulation of CAVs.

In the past few years, ethical questions

associated with connected and automated

vehicles (CAVs) have been the subject of

academic and public scrutiny. A common

narrative presents the development of

CAVs as something that will inevitably

benef‌it society by reducing the number of

road fatalities and harmful emissions from

transport and by improving the accessibility

of mobility services. In contrast, this report

applies a Responsible Research and

Innovation (RRI) approach to CAVs. This

approach recognises the potential of CAV

technology to deliver the aforementioned

benefits but also recognises that

technological progress alone is not suf‌f‌icient

to realise this potential. To deliver the

desired results, the future vision for CAVs

ought to incorporate a broader set of

ethical, legal and societal considerations

into the development, deployment and use

of CAVs.

To this end, this report presents a set of

20 ethical recommendations concerning

the future development and use of CAVs.

These recommendations are grounded

in the fundamental ethical and legal

principles laid down in the EU Treaties and

in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

(brief‌ly described on p. 21).

The recommendations are presented and

discussed in the context of three broad topic

areas:

• CHAPTER 1. ROAD SAFETY,

RISK, DILEMMAS

Improvements in safety achieved by CAVs

should be publicly demonstrable and

monitored through solid and shared scientif‌ic

methods and data; these improvements

should be achieved in compliance with basic

ethical and legal principles, such as a fair

distribution of risk and the protection of

basic rights, including those of vulnerable

users; these same considerations should

apply to dilemma scenarios.

• CHAPTER 2. DATA AND

ALGORITHM ETHICS:

PRIVACY, FAIRNESS,

EXPLAINABILITY

The acquisition and processing of static and

dynamic data by CAVs should safeguard

basic privacy rights, should not create

discrimination between users, and should

happen via processes that are accessible

and understandable to the subjects

involved.

4Ethics of Connected and Automated Vehicles