Deliberately Prejudiced Self-Driving Cars Elicit the Most Outrage

Should self-driving cars be prejudiced, eg, deliberately save young children over the elderly? When people make such forced-choices on the car’s behalf, they exhibit systematic biases (eg, favoring young children), yet when their options are unconstrained they favor egalitarianism. Which of these response patterns should guide AV programming and policy? The answer depends on which programming choice elicits the public reaction most likely to threaten the industry: moral outrage.