Until recently autonomous vehicles have been a part of science fiction and computer games, however now, despite some specific ethic controversies, they are gradually becoming a reality. Despite the undeniable advantages that they will bring, ethical problems are arising from the fact that the task of these vehicles will in some cases be to instantly decide between life and death of traffic participants. In this master's thesis, I use qualitative descriptive and explanatory methodology to conduct a case study in which I examine different authors aspects of ethical dilemmas of autonomous vehicles, with the emphasis on the Trolley Problem. The purpose of this master's thesis is to showcase and examine current ethical dilemmas and findings on the topic of autonomous vehicles in detail and to indicate the necessity of incorporating ethical studies, as well as devoting to the consumer and cultural aspects of this discourse. For this purpose I examine the ethical theories of key authors with the example of the Trolley Problem in the first part of the thesis. In the second part I examine the status of autonomous vehicles in Popular culture and in the third part I do a review of consumer studies, that are concerned with specific ethical questions in relation to autonomous vehicles. In the conclusion I find that it is not clear what the right ethical solution to the programming problems of autonomous vehicles is, or if such a solution even exists. I also conclude that the representation of autonomous vehicles in popular culture is embedded in public consiousness and as such forms as well as reflects the social expectations of autonomous vehicles. Lastly, I conclude that consumers equate the introduction of autonomous vehicles with a loss of control and therefore do not trust autonomous vehicles for the most part.
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