Autonomous car study wants to know whose lives people value most

A website presents users with moral dilemmas on who should theoretically die if a driverless car had to choose in a crash. Called Moral Machine, millions of people from around the world have already made over 40million judgments on which lives matter more, should a driverless car be unable to stop or swerve. The scenarios are complex, such as choosing whether to run over children who are crossing the road despite a red light versus older pedestrians who are abiding by the law. Another variable is whether the passengers in a self-driving car should die over people in the street. Characteristics given to the people in the scene purposely – perhaps even subconsciously – forces the survey takers to determine whether a male or female is more important to save.