Driverless cars could give governments more control, no wonder they're excited

Neil McBride, Lecturer in Information Systems Management, De Montfort University Leicester, UK fears the ability of governments, insurance companies and car manufacturers to know exactly where the car and its passengers are at any given moment

By: Neil McBride, Lecturer in Information Systems Management, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. Translated by Avi Blizovsky

Imagine an autonomous car speeding down the street with a 90-year-old disabled passenger in it. The car has to make a decision: drive into the mother and child and kill them, or run into a wall and kill the passenger.

This is a variation on an old problem - the tram dilemma. This dilemma was formulated in 1967 by Philippa Foote, and was adapted by Judith Jarvis Thopson in 1985. According to the dilemma, a tram driver sees that he is about to injure five workers who are unaware of the approach of the tram, while if he moves a lever and turns to a side track he will save the The same five work but may actually harm one other. Would you pull the lever, leading to one death but saving five deaths?

This dilemma dominates popular academic thinking on the ethics of driverless cars. The problem is that these debates not only solve the complexity of the system in which driverless cars will operate, but are also a moral red line. The real ethical issues lie in the politics and power of driverless cars.

Governments around the world are showing great interest in autonomous cars. The German government has created ethical guidelines for autonomous cars. The British government has promised driverless cars on the road starting in 2021, and the Russian government - by the end of 2018. China has ambitious plans to connect autonomous cars to the Internet and install sensors on roads and traffic lights by 2025.

The signs could be seen in the EU article on The future of Europe in 2025, published in March 2017.

The authors of the article predict what Europe might look like in a future where EU countries actually join to become one federation. In this scenario, the article states, autonomous cars will move without interruption from city to city.

There's a reason governments are so keen on autonomous cars – and it's not just because of the potential economic benefits. These cars will increase the ability of the governments to monitor and even control every movement of the citizens. The autonomous cars threaten to be a means of surveillance and oppression by the government instead of freeing us from the need to drive.

An autonomous car is a computer on wheels, the ultimate mobile device connected to the Internet and full of sensors. It provides a constant two-way flow of information. The car sends information about its performance to the manufacturer and receives from it software updates, control signals for adjustments to the desired behavior, and more. The manufacturer knows where the car is, what the road conditions are, the temperature and the speed at every moment.

The car's insurer may receive information every minute about the condition of the car, its location, speed and road conditions, and can change the insurance accordingly. The system can also turn off the car in case of loss of insurance coverage.

In the meantime it is likely that not only the manufacturers but also government databases will be able to know where the car is, and whether it is supposed to be there. And even, through analysis and prediction (artificial intelligence), what is its target. The smart roads will manage the flow of traffic, slowing down autonomous cars as part of a flow of communication between the car and the road. In smart cities, traffic lights will route cars into detours based on calculations and predictions about traffic jams, roadworks, or state requirements.

It is possible to create markets of fast routes through cities and to central destinations. Companies can pay for their employees to use priority virtual lanes. Travel diaries may reveal exactly where we went and when. The reasons for the trip can be deduced in advance from the scenery, the destinations and the timing.

The end of autonomy

For more than 130 years, cars have represented the ultimate in autonomy, individuality and democratic freedom. Our trips in our car are private and anonymous. We can go where we want and when we want. We don't have to tell anyone. And we retain responsibility if we comply with the law. Autonomous cars will put an end to this.

The manufacturers, governments and city authorities will know where we are going, what we are doing and when. If someone doesn't like what we do, they can stop us, cancel the technical coverage and the accident insurance, stop us on certain roads or streets, or simply turn off the engine. The car will not be autonomous, but will be controlled by the authorities and the systems that operate and maintain this car, which received and sent information to and from the car.

Autonomous cars will usher in a new era of citizen control. Under the rhetoric of increasing safety and reducing risk, the power will be taken from us and given to central authorities - be it cities, governments or private companies. To make us safe, governments will leave us powerless.

The controllers can simply change our route for their purposes, whether to avoid traffic jams or clear a path for an honored guest. They can send us to certain shops, or directly to a police station. Controllers can manage fleets of cars to obey the government's goals.

In a democratic country, the increasing flow of personal information to the central authority will provide the basis for regulation and enforcement. The managed citizens will be the target of behavioral manipulations and advertising flowing into the autonomous car. In a dictatorial country, the authorities can stop you if you are on your way to a demonstration, or if you go to a religious institution that the government does not like.

Such centrally managed systems, which will be essential to the safety of autonomous cars, are not only open to the inevitable technological failures of complex systems, but also to hacking and attacks by other states and individuals. Why hack into one car, when you can hack into the entire city system and bring traffic to a standstill or crash 30 cars into each other?

In reflecting on the ethics of autonomous cars we must move beyond the limitations of the streetcar dilemma to a broader agenda that addresses the concepts of autonomy, community, transparency, identity, value and empathy. Our ethical discussion needs to deal with the enforcement authorities, political accountability, and human rights that our vision of autonomous cars may require sacrificing.

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