How can automated vehicles contribute to safer and more efficient traffic without loss of human control? Automated and semi-automated vehicles are in the limelight. According to many, it is a matter of how we will transition to automated driving rather than when. But how many tasks can a vehicle safely take over from a driver? And who is responsible when things go wrong? This project focuses on socially responsible transition to automated vehicles and will develop guidelines for this. Developing a theory of “meaningful human control” of automatic vehicles is central in this research project.

Meaningful human control is a crucial concept in designing autonomous robots that operate in potentially dangerous situations. By maintaining meaningful human control, people can be better protected and loopholes can be avoided in the legislation on responsibility. There is, however, no theory yet that precisely defines “meaningful human control” in terms of automated vehicles and what this means for manufacturers and governments, for example.

Cooperation with industry and government

Building blocks for guidelines on meaningful human control of automated vehicles will be developed on the basis of the research results. Manufacturers and service providers will be able to incorporate meaningful human control into the technical design of automated vehicles. Governments will be better equipped to prepare for legislation on automated vehicles, which will foster both innovation and responsibility. Lawyers and insurers will be able to incorporate meaningful human control into a framework for responsibility and insurance. Public and private project partners are closely involved in defining the boundary conditions, selecting case studies and disseminating the research results to stakeholders.

In this project, an interdisciplinary team of philosophers, behavioural scientists and civil engineers develops and tests a theory for meaningful human control of automated vehicles using the method of value-driven design. The theory focuses on conceptual, technical and socio-ethical values and will be assessed on the basis of case studies for “partial autonomy” (the driver must stay alert), or “supervised autonomy” (the driver can do other things).

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