The Need for Standards in Autonomous Driving: Exploring Ethical and Social Implications in the Successful Deployment of Autonomous Cars

Autonomous driving incorporates applications and algorithms of AI to enable self-driving vehicles as viable transportation options across the country. Self-driving vehicles may provide advantages over human-driven vehicles in several ways, including cost savings, accessibility to transportation, efficiency, convenience, and reduced traffic. However, there are still challenges due to the added lack of cybersecurity issues, laws, and ethical factors to consider in gaining public trust. Ethical issues such as choosing how to respond to accidents and algorithms for safety decisions are factors in the progression of autonomous vehicles for many companies. Since a gap exists in research and development for ethical and other issues, the purpose of the study is to explore the challenges and problems related to safety and reliability, regulatory and legal issues, technological changes and ethical challenges, scalability, public perception and acceptance, and data security and privacy concerns. The scope of this paper is largely focused on the technical and ethical concerns related to the creation and usage of autonomous cars. This study intends to uncover the gaps in legislation, public opinion, and industry readiness through a data-driven survey of UTC students, case studies, and an examination of recent literature and provide solutions based on this research.