The situation is relatively straightforward in the case of autonomous vacuum cleaners or lawnmowers — they are usually too small and too slow to do any harm if something goes wrong. But it looks different if we consider larger and faster vehicles, for example, self-driving cars.

Fully autonomous cars do not need a driver at all. In fact, there are five levels of vehicle autonomy. Starting from level 1 (driver assistance) such as maintaining a constant distance from the vehicle in front, up to level 5 (full autonomy) which means self-driving in every situation. The most advanced cars currently available are somewhere in the middle of this scale — they handle all driving tasks in some situations, but they still require human intervention. The technical difficulty of getting from level 3 to level 5 is much bigger than from level 1 to level 3, so it will take some time until fully autonomous cars can be found on our roads. 

SELF-DRIVING CAR BENEFITS

There are many benefits of using autonomous cars. Traffic on the roads will be smoother, which will also reduce environmental pollution. It is estimated that 90% of accidents will be eliminated. However, some accidents will still happen. In many situations, self-driving cars will have to make difficult ethical decisions. For example, when an accident is unavoidable, should the car protect its driver and passengers but kill pedestrians? Or should it save pedestrians by twisting and hitting a tree and simply sacrificing the passenger sitting next to the driver? A possible rule could be that an AI-powered car minimizes the number of victims of a potential accident. In sociology research considering this topic, the participants were asked whether a self-driving car should sacrifice the life of one passenger or rather kill 10 pedestrians. Most of the participants replied that it should sacrifice the life of the passenger. However, only few of them would like to buy and use a car knowing that in case of emergency the car would sacrifice their lives to save people.

Thus, we are facing many interesting legal and ethical considerations related to self-driving cars. Nowadays, each year, approximately 1.4 million people are killed in accidents and 20 million to 50 million are injured. Therefore, if it is true that the use of autonomous cars will eliminate 90% of accidents, it means that more than a million people will be saved every year worldwide. Meanwhile, the risk of fatalities on roads per 1 million inhabitants in Poland is one of the highest among the countries of the European Union. According to police data, there were 2,487 fatalities and over 26,000 people were injured in road accidents in 2020. So, it would be beneficial for Poland to introduce self-driving vehicles. 

SELF-DRIVING VEHICLE LEGISLATION

The legislation concerning self-driving vehicles is not harmonized in Europe. In many countries, level 3 autonomous vehicles can be used in specific areas, mainly for testing purposes. The legislation in some countries is more liberal. Germany most likely will allow level 4 autonomous vehicles on public roads in 2022. In Poland, autonomous vehicles remain in the realm of plans. The “Policy for Artificial Intelligence Development in Poland since 2020” passed by the Polish government earlier this year perceives AI as a great opportunity for Poland to make a leap in development. Among numerous short-term goals specified in this document, it provides wide possibilities of testing autonomous vehicles of various kinds (cars, drones, ships).

Jacek Krawczak is a senior data scientist at Atos R&D Poland and an AI senior expert at Atos Global Expert Community. Founded in 1997, Atos is a French multinational IT service and consulting company.