Will My Next Car Be a Libertarian or a Utilitarian?: Who Will Decide?

Change is coming. Experimental, self-driving cars are plying public roads in many U.S. states, heralding what some automotive industry experts and regulators see as a profound and imminent disruption in the transportation industry, and a change to our way of life. With this change, a large swath of human choices regarding operation of vehicles, response to driving hazards, and compliance with important as well as petty laws will be consigned to computer software. Many of these choices are ethical in nature, and their expression in machine-controlled software will encode answers to important questions about liberty and utility - questions that remain a matter of serious social contention. Who will decide how these choices are encoded in software, and will their digital mandates be guided by respect for individual liberty or deference to social utility?