Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are a car designed to reduce the amount of deaths in a car accident. There were an estimated 5,419,000 automobile crashes (30,296 fatal crashes), killing 32,999 and injuring 2,239,000 people in 2015. The 32,479 traffic fatalities in 2011 were the lowest in 62 years. This beckons the question: “What if a car sacrificed a person to minimize the amount of fatalities?” Saving as many lives as possible is a priority, right ?

One survey observed that 76 percent of the participants believe that it would be the more moral decision to sacrifice the life of one passenger to avoid the death of 10 pedestrians. Maximizing the number of lives saved, even when asked to imagine their family members being in the car.

While most chose the outcome that saved the most lives, the survey results further designate that most participants would be much less likely to purchase a car that was programmed to follow this principle, most instead preferring a car that would be more protective toward themselves and their families.

“Autonomous cars have the potential to revolutionize transportation and eliminate the majority of deaths on the road,” Iyad Rahwan, another author of the study, said during a teleconference, “That is over one million global deaths annually. But as we work on making the technology safer, we need to recognize the psychological and social challenges.”

In conclusion, this idea both scares me and amazes me. The fact that it would save more lives and also potentially take one? I don’t know if I could deal with that on my mind. I want you to ask yourself this question, “Would you sacrifice yourself to save 10 innocent people, or would you avoid the purchase of this car all together?” Let us know in the comments below!