Delegating Moral Dilemmas in Autonomous Vehicles Evidence from an online experiment in China

Yuhong Gao, Thierry Blayac () and Marc Willinger ()
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Yuhong Gao: Fudan University [Shanghai]
Thierry Blayac: UM - Université de Montpellier, CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier
Marc Willinger: CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier

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Abstract: We conducted a study to assess the impact of a delegation option on moral decision-making using an online questionnaire based on the Moral Machine paradigm1. Interestingly, the inclusion of a delegation option did not significantly alter individuals' moral tradeoffs. Nevertheless, when presented with the option, most participants opted for delegation as a means to avoid the moral burden of challenging decisions, regardless of the delegate's profile. Factors influencing this choice included gender (favoring females), occupation (doctors), education level (lower), a strong sense of altruism, less frequent driving, and greater risk aversion. Additionally, participants displayed a preference for saving more lives, with particular emphasis on babies, pregnant women, doctors, and law-abiding victims, indicating a general aversion to death.

Keywords: Transport Policy Moral machine paradigm; moral dilemma; delegation; freedom of choice; behavioral economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-exp
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Published in Transport Policy, inPress, ⟨10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.04.017⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05058037

DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.04.017

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