Empowering safer socially sensitive autonomous vehicles using human-plausible cognitive encoding.

ABSTRACT: Autonomous vehicles (AVs) will soon cruise our roads as a global undertaking. Beyond completing driving tasks, AVs are expected to incorporate ethical considerations into their operation. However, a critical challenge remains. When multiple road users are involved, their impacts on AV ethical decision-making are distinct yet interrelated. Current AVs lack social sensitivity in ethical decisions, failing to enable both differentiated consideration of road users and a holistic view of their collective impact. Drawing on research in AV ethics and neuroscience, we propose a scheme based on social concern and human-plausible cognitive encoding. Specifically, we first assess the individual impact that each road user poses to the AV based on risk. Then, social concern can differentiate these impa

SUBMITTER: Lu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12130892 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature