The Real Moral Dilemma of Self-Driving Cars

The advent of self-driving cars revived the decades-old philosophical conundrum known as the "trolley problem." The basic setup is this: A vehicle is hurtling toward a group of five pedestrians, and the only way to save them is to swerve and run over a single pedestrian instead. For philosophers and psychologists, it's pure thought experiment -- a tool to tease out and scrutinize our moral intuitions. Most people will never face such a stark choice, and even if they did, studies suggest their reaction in the moment would have little to do with their views on utilitarianism or moral agency. Self-driving cars have given the problem a foothold in the real world.