Exploring the Ethics Behind Self-Driving Cars

Imagine a runaway trolley barreling down on five people standing on the tracks up ahead. You can pull a lever to divert the trolley onto a different set of tracks where only one person is standing. Is the moral choice to do nothing and let the five people die? Or should you hit the switch and therefore actively participate in a different person's death? In the real world, the "trolley problem" first posed by philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967 is an abstraction most won't ever have to actually face. And yet, as driverless cars roll into our lives, policymakers and auto manufacturers are edging into similar ethical dilemmas.