Designing Driving Automation for Human Autonomy: Self-determination, the Good Life, and Social Deliberation

The present chapter analyses the complex ways in which driving automation affects human autonomy with the aim of raising awareness on the design and policy challenges that must be faced to effectively align future transportation systems to this ethical value. Building on the European report Ethics of Connected and Automated Vehicles, we consider three dimensions of the relation between human autonomy and driving automation: autonomy as self-determination of driving decisions; autonomy as freedom to pursue a good life through mobility; and, finally, autonomy as the capacity and opportunity to influence social deliberation concerning transportation policies and planning. In doing so, the chapter shows that delegating driving tasks to CAVs might both infringe and support user autonomy, thus calling for a reconsideration of widespread frameworks concerning the role of humans and technological systems in this domain. Moreover, it stresses the importance of promoting inclusive and participated decision-making processes on transportation policies and planning, so to avoid situations where the development and adoption of transport innovations are led by agents willing to respond only to a limited set of stakeholders’ needs.