Moral Dilemmas Involving Self‐Driving Cars: How to Regulate Them and Why Your Opinion Matters. N.Paulo and L.Kirchmair, 2025. New York, Routledge. xix + 88 pp, £135.00 (hb) £36.99 (pb)

At the intersection of philosophy, law, and artificial intelligence, Moral Dilemmas Involving Self-Driving Cars by Norbert Paulo and Lando Kirchmair presents an urgent and profound ethical investigation into one of the most pressing technological revolutions of our time.The authors dissect the moral implications of programming autonomous vehicles to respond to life-and-death situationsdilemmas reminiscent of the classic trolley problem but made starkly real by the rise of self-driving technology.This book is not just a theoretical exercise; it forces the reader to reckon with difficult, unavoidable ethical questions that will soon be embedded in public policy and everyday life.Paulo and Kirchmair's work is both a philosophical challenge and a call to action.While the book claims to prepare readers to take an informed stance on the ethical and legal regulation of self-driving cars, it does more than thatit drags us, sometimes unwillingly, into a labyrinth of human morality, agency, and responsibility.Unlike most academic treatments of this topic, Moral Dilemmas Involving Self-Driving Cars does not let the reader remain a passive observer; instead, it demands engagement, reflection, and ultimately, a reckoning with what kind of world we want to build.One of the book's most compelling arguments is that we cannot evade the moral responsibility of programming self-driving cars.Unlike human drivers, who make split-second, emotionally driven decisions in crisis situations, autonomous vehicles must be preprogrammed with decision-making algorithms.Thus, we are compelled to decide in advance who should live and who should die in scenarios where harm is inevitable.The authors argue forcefully that refusing to make a decision is still a decisionit merely shifts moral responsibility onto the randomness of unprogrammed outcomes or corporate interests that will inevitably prioritize financial or legal liability over ethical considerations.This argument challenges the reader to acknowledge the weight of designing autonomous systems that will shape human survival.By examining real-world accidents, including cases involving Tesla and Uber's autonomous driving programs, the authors demonstrate how these dilemmas are no longer hypothetical.The ethical frameworks we chooseor fail to choosewill determine the future of road safety, legal responsibility, and public trust in automation.Paulo and Kirchmair expertly weave together different moral theories to analyze how self-driving cars should be programmed.They contrast utilitarian approacheswhere the car should always minimize harm, even if it means sacrificing its own passengerwith deontological perspectives, which would reject any programming that actively chooses to kill someone.The discussion also touches on virtue ethics, raising questions about how self-driving technology might influence broader moral behavior, such as whether people