The Mobility Podcast

Trolley Cars & Ethics and Equity of Transportation Systems - Chris Gerdes, Stanford University

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One highlight of ARTS 2023 was when Chris Gerdes intentionally made the audience groan by displaying a slide that mentioned the infamous Trolley Car Problem – before making it right by presenting a commonsense framework for determining the roadworthiness and safety of AVs.Chris is teaching the next generation of transportation tech professionals about ethics and equity of transportation systems. He’s a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, as well as a former director and co-founder of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (also known as CARS). Chris was also the first Chief Innovation Officer in the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Obama Administration. In this episode, Greg Rogers and Sophie spoke with Chris at the TRB ARTS conference in July 2023 about:• Duty of care: Why the trolley car problem is the wrong question to ask about AV safety• Education: Teaching the next generation of leaders about ethics & equity In transportation systems• Government & Innovation: Chris' experience as the first Chief Innovation Officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation• Proving AVs on the race track: Testing AVs on a race track can improve understanding of vehicle capabilities and limitations. •••Resources•••Learn more about Chris’ work: • Building Ethics into Autonomous Vehicles (Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5QcfDxU3js • Designing Ethical Self-Driving Cars (Article): https://hai.stanford.edu/news/designing-ethical-self-driving-cars • Exceptional Driving Principles For Autonomous Vehicles (Paper): https://futurist.law.umich.edu/exceptional-driving-principles-for-autonomous-vehicles/ As always, you can follow us on Twitter: @MobilityPodcast, @MoveGreg, @Pete_Gould, @SmarterTranspo.

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