Introduction

• Pages: 15-19

INTRODUCTION

The need to discuss ethical issues raised by Connected and Automated

Vehicles (CAVs) at European level was recommended by the Ethics Task

Force, a Member State initiative that was set up aer the second High Level

Meeting of EU Transport Ministers, the European Commission and Industry

on Connected and Automated Driving in Frankfurt, September 2017

3

. As

such, in its 2018 Communication On the Road to Automated Mobility: An EU

Strategy for Mobility of the Future

4

, the European Commission announced the

creation of a Commission Expert Group to advise on specif‌ic ethical issues

raised by driverless mobility.

The work of this Independent Expert

Group started in June 2019, with the

goal of providing practical support to

relevant researchers, policymakers and CAV

manufacturers and deployers in the safe

and responsible transition to connected

and automated mobility. This Expert Group

consisted of 14 experts from the f‌ields of

ethics, law, philosophy and CAVs from all

over Europe, working independently and in

the public interest.

This report aims to promote a safe and

responsible transition to connected

and automated vehicles by supporting

stakeholders in the systematic inclusion of

ethical considerations in the development and

regulation of CAVs. This report provides 20

recommendations to support researchers,

policymakers and CAV manufacturers and

deployers in dealing with a variety of ethical

issues raised by connected and automated

mobility. From June 2019 to June 2020, the

Expert Group had six formal meetings to

identify the issues to include in the report,

and to discuss, deliberate, and dra the

recommendations. One of these meetings

took the form of a stakeholder workshop

that aimed to foster a participatory

approach in the preparation of the f‌inal

report. The workshop gathered a variety

of researchers, policymakers, associations

and industry experts, who received a dra

report with recommendations upon which

they could propose revisions. This served as

the basis for discussion during the workshop.

The report builds upon existing reports5,

such as the AI High Level Expert Group

Guidelines for Trustworthy AI (AIHLEG),

the European Group on Ethics in

Science and New Technologies (EGE)

statement on Artif‌icial Intelligence, Robotics

and Autonomous Systems, the Ethics

Task Force’s report and the Expert

Group report on Liability and New

Technologies, this Expert Group proposes

recommendations to include ethical, societal,

and legal considerations for the safe and

responsible development of CAVs. Some

of these recommendations may be used

to develop new regulations concerning the

development and use of CAVs.

15Ethics of Connected and Automated Vehicles