Would you save a woman, a child or a DOG in a car crash? Interactive game that reveals how people act in life or death situations is helping to develop 'moral machines' for self-driving cars

  • Autonomous cars will soon need have to make ethical decisions in crashes 
  • A choice will be made between two groups of people in an avoidable crash
  • For example, a car may have to choose between killing children or the elderly  
  • MIT scientists have tried to find out who people opt to save in these situations 

An experiment has investigated human morality and ranked countries based on who they would save in the event of a certain death situation.

The findings reveal the value of life varies according to different countries, with French people, for example, were far more likely to save women than men.

Lithuania ranks in the top 10 for sparing both the young and the healthy.

The four most spared characters in the game are a baby, a little girl, a little boy and a pregnant woman. 

The game posed difficult ethical decisions such as choosing between the lives of a family of four crossing the road and a group of pensioners going the other way. 

Quandaries like this will one day be faced by autonomous vehicles that will be programmed with algorithms that place a value on human life.

Play the Moral Machine here

Difficult ethical decisions such as picking whether to save a family of four crossing the road or a group of pensioners going the other way pitted people against their own sense of humanity. Children were heavily favoured and animals and criminals ranked at the bottom 

Difficult ethical decisions such as picking whether to save a family of four crossing the road or a group of pensioners going the other way pitted people against their own sense of humanity. Children were heavily favoured and animals and criminals ranked at the bottom 

Tests into the moral decision making of almost forty million people around the world, including the UK, have found that the lives of women and men are widely held in equal regard.

France however bucks the trend as saving the lives of women have far more wight than those of men. 

Dr Edmond Awad, of the MIT Media Lab, who is lead author, said: 'The study is basically trying to understand the kinds of moral decisions that driverless cars might have to resort to. We don't know yet how they should do that.

He added, 'We found that there are three elements that people seem to approve of the most.

'These were that human lives are spared over animals, that the lives of many people are spared rather than a few, and preserving the lives of the young, rather than the old. Dr Awad added: The main preferences were to some degree universally agreed upon.

'But the degree to which they agree with this or not varies among different groups or countries.'  

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ran a series of computer simulations that posed a problem where an accident involving a vehicle is imminent. 

The participant sees a car travelling down the left side of a road and a variety of options are proposed. 

One example of the test was that the car can either swerve into a concrete bollard or mow down pedestrians, choosing between killing humans or dogs and picking whether children or adults should survive. 

Intriguingly, the UK was more likely to take no action than many countries around the world - coming 16th in the world rankings of 'preferring inaction'

Intriguingly, the UK was more likely to take no action than many countries around the world - coming 16th in the world rankings of 'preferring inaction'

TOP 10 COUNTRIES REVEALED FOR SAVING CERTAIN DEMOGRAPHICS FROM A CAR CRASHRANK FOR SAVING  
Rank   Save pedestrians Save females Save healthy  Save lawful citizens over criminals   Save higher status individuals  Save youngsters Save more lives Save humans over animals
1  Japan New Caledonia  Mongolia Bahrein  Montenegro France Isle of man Nicaragua
2   Andorra France Trinidad and Tobago  Cambodia  Angola Mongolia  Uzbekistan Kenya
3   Jordan Dominican Republic  Nicaragua  Montenegro Nicaragua Bosnia and Herzegovina  Myanmar Korea
4
Palestine  Panema Lithuania  Japan Venezuela  Bahamas France Denmark
5   Azerbaijan  Venezuela  Guatemala Andorra Guatemala Italy Jamaica Hungary 
6   Iran Honduras Bolivia Portugal Colombia  Lithuania Republic of ireland Iran
7   Guatemala  Jamaica Paraguay Indonesia French Polynesia  Hungary Hungary Jordan
8   Belgium  Cambodia  Qatar New Caledonia  Ecuador French Polynesia Israel  Italy
9   Cambodia   Nicaragua  Serbia China El Salvador  Greece South Africa  Switzerland 
10   New Caledonia  Andorra   Costa Rica Croatia Dominican republic  Bulgaria  Great Britain  Norway
Tests into the moral decision making of almost forty million people around the world, including the UK, have found that the lives of women and men are widely held in equal regard

Tests into the moral decision making of almost forty million people around the world, including the UK, have found that the lives of women and men are widely held in equal regard

Other categories investigated by the team are: preferring inaction, sparing pedestrians, females, fit and healthy people, the lawful, people of higher social status, younger people, more people and prioritising human life over animal life.  

The research is intended to help designers create intelligent vehicles that can make split-second decisions on what to do in the wake of an accident. 

The researchers write in the study: 'Never in the history of humanity have we allowed a machine to autonomously decide who should live and who should die, in a fraction of a second, without real-time supervision. 

'We are going to cross that bridge any time now.'

The fascinating findings highlight how morality differs around the world.

In a world ranking out of 117 countries, Britain came only 71st in sparing the lives of women rather than men and in 34th place for saving the life of a child rather than an adult.

The four most spared characters in the game are a baby, a little girl, a little boy and the pregnant woman (pictured)

The four most spared characters in the game are a baby, a little girl, a little boy and the pregnant woman (pictured)

In a world ranking out of 117 countries, Britain came only 71st in sparing the lives of women rather than men and in 34th place for saving the life of a child rather than an adult

In a world ranking out of 117 countries, Britain came only 71st in sparing the lives of women rather than men and in 34th place for saving the life of a child rather than an adult

This compares to the French - in first place when it came to sparing the life of a child over an adult, and in second place overall for saving a woman's life.

When it came to sparing a human life, rather than an animal's, we were 56th place overall.

People in the US were more likely to save a woman's life over a man's than Brits - with the Americans coming 47th in the league table.

Intriguingly, the UK was more likely to take no action than many countries around the world - coming 16th in the world rankings of 'preferring inaction'.

Topping the list of countries who preferred to take no action was Myanmar, who also came 3rd for sparing more people.   

The strong preference most countries in the world have for sparing the lives of children could pose a problem for policy makers.

WHAT ARE THE SIX LEVELS OF SELF-DRIVING AUTOMATION?

Level Zero - The full-time performance by the human driver of all aspects of the dynamic driving task, even when enhanced by warning or intervention systems.

Level One – A small amount of control is accomplished by the system such as adaptive braking if a car gets too close.

Level Two – The system can control the speed and direction of the car allowing the driver to take their hands off temporarily, but they have to monitor the road at all times and be ready to take over.

Level Three – The driver does not have to monitor the system at all times in some specific cases like on high ways but must be ready to resume control if the system requests.

Level Four – The system can cope will all situations automatically within defined use but it may not be able to cope will all weather or road conditions. System will rely on high definition mapping.

Level Five – Full automation. System can cope with all weather, traffic and lighting conditions. It can go anywhere, at any time in any conditions.

Tesla's Model 3 Sedan - one of the world's most advanced road-legal cars with autonomous elements - currently operates at Level Two autonomy. It is equipped for Level Three autonomy, which may be introduced in a future software update

Tesla's Model 3 Sedan - one of the world's most advanced road-legal cars with autonomous elements - currently operates at Level Two autonomy. It is equipped for Level Three autonomy, which may be introduced in a future software update

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The results were split into three broad categories. The first cluster contains North America as well as many European countries. The second contains many far eastern countries such as Japan and Taiwan and the third consists of the Latin American countries (pictured)

The results were split into three broad categories. The first cluster contains North America as well as many European countries. The second contains many far eastern countries such as Japan and Taiwan and the third consists of the Latin American countries (pictured)

In Germany, for instance, a number of ethical rules to guide car-makers have been devised.

German Ethical Rule number 9 states 'no distinction' based on personal features such as age, should be allowed for AI systems driving cars. 

The researchers found a less pronounced tendency to favour younger people, rather than the elderly, in what they defined as an 'eastern' cluster of countries, including many in Asia. 

The paper, 'The Moral Machine Experiment,' is being published in Nature.

SELF-DRIVING CARS 'SEE' USING LIDAR, CAMERAS AND RADAR

Self-driving cars often use a combination of normal two-dimensional cameras and depth-sensing 'LiDAR' units to recognise the world around them.

However, others make use of visible light cameras that capture imagery of the roads and streets. 

They are trained with a wealth of information and vast databases of hundreds of thousands of clips which are processed using artificial intelligence to accurately identify people, signs and hazards.   

In LiDAR (light detection and ranging) scanning - which is used by Waymo - one or more lasers send out short pulses, which bounce back when they hit an obstacle.

These sensors constantly scan the surrounding areas looking for information, acting as the 'eyes' of the car.

While the units supply depth information, their low resolution makes it hard to detect small, faraway objects without help from a normal camera linked to it in real time.

In November last year Apple revealed details of its driverless car system that uses lasers to detect pedestrians and cyclists from a distance.

The Apple researchers said they were able to get 'highly encouraging results' in spotting pedestrians and cyclists with just LiDAR data.

They also wrote they were able to beat other approaches for detecting three-dimensional objects that use only LiDAR.

Other self-driving cars generally rely on a combination of cameras, sensors and lasers. 

An example is Volvo's self driving cars that rely on around 28 cameras, sensors and lasers.

A network of computers process information, which together with GPS, generates a real-time map of moving and stationary objects in the environment.

Twelve ultrasonic sensors around the car are used to identify objects close to the vehicle and support autonomous drive at low speeds.

A wave radar and camera placed on the windscreen reads traffic signs and the road's curvature and can detect objects on the road such as other road users.

Four radars behind the front and rear bumpers also locate objects.

Two long-range radars on the bumper are used to detect fast-moving vehicles approaching from far behind, which is useful on motorways.

Four cameras - two on the wing mirrors, one on the grille and one on the rear bumper - monitor objects in close proximity to the vehicle and lane markings. 

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