Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Engineering Social Justice into Traffic Control for Self-Driving Vehicles?

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Science and Engineering Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The convergence of computing, sensing, and communication technology will soon permit large-scale deployment of self-driving vehicles. This will in turn permit a radical transformation of traffic control technology. This paper makes a case for the importance of addressing questions of social justice in this transformation, and sketches a preliminary framework for doing so. We explain how new forms of traffic control technology have potential implications for several dimensions of social justice, including safety, sustainability, privacy, efficiency, and equal access. Our central focus is on efficiency and equal access as desiderata for traffic control design. We explain the limitations of conventional traffic control in meeting these desiderata, and sketch a preliminary vision for a next-generation traffic control tailored to address better the demands of social justice. One component of this vision is cooperative, hierarchically distributed self-organization among vehicles. Another component of this vision is a priority system enabling selection of priority levels by the user for each vehicle trip in the network, based on the supporting structure of non-monetary credits.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Philosophical debate about the nature of social justice is deep and complex. For a reasonable survey of contemporary views, see (Pojman 2006). (Rawls 1971) is the starting point for a wealth of contemporary theorizing. Important competitors to Rawls’ theory include Neo-Lockeanism [e.g. (Nozick 1974)], welfarist consequentialism [e.g. (Goodin 1995)], egalitarianism [e.g., (Cohen 2011)], and the capabilities approach [e.g., (Nussbaum 2009)].

References

  • A History of Traffic Control Devices (1980). Washington, D.C.: Institute of Transportation Engineers.

  • Abbas, M., & Mladenovic, M. N. (2013). Agent-based control for adaptive high performance connected vehicle streams. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Connected Vehicles, Las Vegas, NV.

  • Agyeman, J. (2008). Toward a ‘just’ sustainability? Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 22(6), 751–756. doi:10.1080/10304310802452487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agyeman, J., & Evans, B. (2004). ‘Just sustainability’: The emerging discourse of environmental justice in Britain? The Geographical Journal, 170(2), 155–164. doi:10.1111/j.0016-7398.2004.00117.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, J. M. (2008). Capabilities and social justice: The political philosophy of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, J. M., Nidhi, K., Stanley, K. D., Sorensen, P., Samaras, C., & Oluwatola, O. A. (2014). Autonomous vehicle technology: A guide for policymakers. Rand Corporation.

  • Azath, M., Wahida Banu, R., & Neela Madheswari, A. (2011). Improving fairness in network traffic by controlling congestion and unresponsive flows. Advances in network security and applications, (Vol. 196, pp. 356–363). Berlin: Springer.

  • Barry, B. (1997). Sustainability and intergenerational justice. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, 89, 43–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton, R. (2015). Automotive trends 2015 changing lanes: Understanding consumer attitudes and future trends in the UK motoring industry. Future thinking. http://futurethinking.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Automotive-Trends-2015.pdf.

  • Beamon, B. M. (2005). Environmental and sustainability ethics in supply chain management. Science and Engineering Ethics, 11(2), 221–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhushan, N., & Rai, K. (2004). Strategic decision making: Applying the analytic hierarchy process. London, New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bianchini, D., & Avila, I. (2014). Smart cities and their smart decisions: Ethical considerations. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 33(1), 34–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blyth, P., Mladenovic, M. N., Nardi, B., Ekbia, H., & Su, N. (2015). Driving the self-driving vehicle: Expanding the technological design Horizon. Paper presented at the 21st IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, Dublin, Ireland.

  • Borgmann, A. (1987). Technology and the character of contemporary life: A philosophical inquiry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caney, S. (2014). Climate change, intergenerational equity and the social discount rate. Politics Philosophy and Economics,. doi:10.1177/1470594X14542566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canons of Ethics for Members (2003). Institute of Transportation Engineers.

  • Cao, L., Thakali, L., Fu, L., & Donaher, G. (2013). Effect of weather and road surface conditions on traffic speed of rural highways. In Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting.

  • Code of Ethics (2010). American Society of Civil Engineers.

  • Code of Ethics for Engineers (2007). National Society of Professional Engineers.

  • Cohen, G. A. (2011). On the currency of egalitarian justice, and other essays in political philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S., & Grace, D. (1994). Engineers and social responsibility: An obligation to do good. Technology and Society Magazine, IEEE, 13(3), 12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creative Disruption: Exploring Innovation in Transportation (2013). Intelligent Transportation Society America: Leadership Circle.

  • Curiel-Esparza, J., Canto-Perello, J., & Calvo, M. A. (2004). Establishing sustainable strategies in urban underground engineering. Science and Engineering Ethics, 10(3), 523–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daganzo, C. F. (1997). Fundamentals of transportation and traffic operations. Oxford: Pergamon.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Wolf, T., & Holvoet, T. (2004). Emergence and Self-Organisation: A statement of similarities and differences. Engineering Self-Organising Systems, 3464, 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delot, T., Cenerario, N., & Ilarri, S. (2010). Vehicular event sharing with a mobile peer-to-peer architecture. Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies, 18(4), 584–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, A. (1999). Fairness and futurity: Essays on environmental sustainability and social justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Epting, S. (2015). The moral dimensions of infrastructure. Science and Engineering Ethics,. doi:10.1007/s11948-015-9663-z.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagnant, D., & Kockelman, K. (2013). Preparing a nation for autonomous vehicles: Opportunities, barriers and policy recommendations. Eno Center for Transportation. October. https://www.enotrans.org/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/downloadables/AV-paper.pdf.

  • Flanagan, M., Howe, D., & Nissenbaum, H. (2008). Embodying values in technology: Theory and practice. Information technology and moral philosophy, pp. 322–353.

  • Friedewald, M., Wright, D., Gutwirth, S., & Mordini, E. (2010). Privacy, data protection and emerging sciences and technologies: Towards a common framework. Innovation-The European Journal of Social Science Research, 23(1), 61–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gartner, N., & Stamatiadis, C. (2009). Traffic networks, optimization and control of Urban. In R. A. Meyers (Ed.), Encyclopedia of complexity and systems science (pp. 1–10). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Godsmark, P., Kirk, B., Gill, V., & Flemming, B. (2015). Automated vehicles: The coming of the next disruptive technology. The Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for Transportation and Infrastructure, The Van Horne Institute, and The Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence.

  • Goodin, R. E. (1995). Utilitarianism as a public philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Grant-Muller, S., & Xu, M. (2014). The role of tradable credit schemes in road traffic congestion management. Transport Reviews: A Transnational Transdisciplinary Journal, 34(2), 128–149. doi:10.1080/01441647.2014.880754.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grodzinsky, F. S. (2000). Equity of access: Adaptive technology. Science and Engineering Ethics, 6(2), 221–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartenstein, H., Laberteaux, K., & Ebrary, I. (2010). VANET: Vehicular applications and inter-networking technologies: Wiley Online Library.

  • Harvey, D. (2010). Social justice and the city (Vol. 1). Atlanta: University of Georgia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, M. (2009). The question concerning technology. In C. Hanks (Ed.), Technology and values: Essential readings (pp. 99–113). Wiley-Blackwell.

  • Heikkerö, T. (2012). Ethics in technology: A philosophical study. Lanham: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heikkilä, S. (2014). Mobility as a service: A proposal for action for the public administration. Case Helsinki: Aalto University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hevelke, A., & Nida-Rümelin, J. (2014). Responsibility for crashes of autonomous vehicles: an ethical analysis. Science and Engineering Ethics, 21(3), 619–630.

  • Heylighen, F. (2001). The science of self-organization and adaptivity. The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, 5(3), 253–280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickman, R., & Banister, D. (2014). Transport, Climate Change and the City (Routledge Advances in Climate Change Research). New York, NY, USA: Routledge

  • Hsu, R. C., & Chen, L. (2005). An integrated embedded system architecture for in-vehicle telematics and infotainment system. In (Vol. 4, pp. 1409–1414): IEEE.

  • IEEE Code of Ethics (2006). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

  • Ihde, D. (1990). Technology and the lifeworld: From garden to earth (Vol. 560). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D. G., & Wetmore, J. M. (2009). Technology and society building our sociotechnical future. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamin, C., & Morton, D. A financial analysis of different scenarios for using autonomous vehicles to deliver packages. In Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting, 2015.

  • Karagiannis, G., Altintas, O., Ekici, E., Heijenk, G., Jarupan, B., Lin, K., et al. (2011). Vehicular networking: A survey and tutorial on requirements, architectures, challenges, standards and solutions. Communications Surveys and Tutorials, IEEE, 13(4), 584–616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann, S. (1993). The origins of order. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleijnen, J. (2011). Ethical issues in engineering models: an operations researcher’s reflections. Science and Engineering Ethics, 17(3), 539–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leen, G., & Heffernan, D. (2002). Expanding automotive electronic systems. Computer, 35(1), 88–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, D. (2010). Equity effects of road pricing: A review. Transport Reviews: A Transnational Transdisciplinary Journal, 30(1), 33–57. doi:10.1080/01441640903189304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lutin, J. M., Kornhauser, A. L., & Lerner-Lam, E. (2013). The revolutionary development of self-driving vehicles and implications for the transportation engineering profession. ITE Journal, 83(7), 28–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maile, M., Neale, V., Ahmed-Zaid, F., Basnyake, C., Caminiti, L., Doerzaph, Z., et al. (2008). Cooperative intersection collision avoidance system limited to stop sign and traffic signal violations (CICAS-V).

  • Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (2009). Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation.

  • Marsden, G., Kimble, M., Nellthorp, J., & Kelly, C. (2010). Sustainability assessment: The definition deficit. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 4(4), 189–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McShane, C. (1999). The origins and globalization of traffic control signals. Journal of Urban History, 25(3), 379–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, L. (2009). Intergenerational justice. Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy.

  • Misener, J. A., Dickey, S., VanderWerf, J., & Sengupta, R. (2009). Vehicle-Infrastructure Cooperation. In S. Olariu & M. A. C. Weigle (Eds.), Vehicular networks: From theory to practice (Vol. 20). London: Chapman & Hall/CRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitcham, C. (1994). Thinking through technology: The path between engineering and philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mladenovic, M. N. (2012). Large scale analysis of traffic control systems. Traffic Engineering and Control, 53(1).

  • Mladenovic, M. N., & Abbas, M. (2012). A guide to effective adaptive traffic control systems. Traffic Engineering and Control, 53(2).

  • Mladenovic, M. N., & Abbas, M. (2013a). A Paradigm shift in traffic control of self-driving vehicles: Improving mobility and accessibility within a framework of social justice. Paper presented at the Conference on Agent-Based Modeling in Transportation Planning and Operations Blacksburg, VA,

  • Mladenovic, M. N., & Abbas, M. (2013b). Self-organizing control framework for driverless vehicles. In 16th International IEEE Annual Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Delft, Netherlands.

  • Mladenovic, M. N., & Abbas, M. (2013c). Socially sustainable control framework for self-driving vehicles. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Connected Vehicles Las Vegas, NV.

  • Mladenovic, M. N., & Abbas, M. (2014). Priority-based intersection control framework for self-driving vehicles: Agent-based model development and evaluation. Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Connected Vehicles Vienna, Austria,

  • Mladenovic, M. N., & Abbas, M. (2015a). Anthropocentric development of intersection control principles for self-driving vehicles under considerations of social justice. Paper presented at the mobil.TUM 2015: International Scientific Conference on Mobility and Transport Munich, Germany,

  • Mladenovic, M. N., & Abbas, M. (2015b). Evaluation of priority-based traffic control framework for self-driving vehicles under considerations of social justice. Paper presented at the 94th Annual Meeting of Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.,

  • Mladenovic, M. N., Abbas, M., & McPherson, T. (2014) Development of socially sustainable traffic-control principles for self-driving vehicles: The ethics of anthropocentric design. In 2014 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Science, Technology and Engineering (pp. 1–8). Chicago, IL: IEEE.

  • Mobility 2001: World mobility at the end of the 20th century: Overview (2001). World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

  • Mueller, E. A. (1970). Aspects of the history of traffic signals. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 19(1), 6–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nozick, R. (1974). Anarchy, state, and utopia. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M. C. (2009). Frontiers of justice: Disability, nationality, species membership. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Özgüner, Ü., Acarman, T., & Redmill, K. (2011). Autonomous ground vehicle. Norwood, MA: Artech House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Papageorgiou, M., Diakaki, C., Dinopoulou, V., Kotsialos, A., & Wang, Y. (2003). Review of road traffic control strategies. Proceedings of the IEEE, 91(12), 2043–2067.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeifer, R., & Verschure, P. Distributed adaptive control: A paradigm for designing autonomous agents. In Proceedings of the First European Conference on Artificial Life, 1992 (pp. 21-30).

  • Pojman, L. P. (2006). Justice: An anthology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portugali, J. (2000). Self-organization and the city. Berlin: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Prehofer, C., & Bettstetter, C. (2005). Self-organization in communication networks: Principles and design paradigms. Communications Magazine, IEEE, 43(7), 78–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preliminary Statement of Policy Concerning Automated Vehicles (2013). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

  • Prigogine, I., & Nicolis, G. (1977). Self organization in non-equilibrium systems. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramírez, F., & Seco, A. (2011). Civil engineering at the crossroads in the twenty-first century. Science and Engineering Ethics, 18(4), 681–687.

  • Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (2005). Political liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, J. A. (2014). Changing the Paradigm for engineering ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 20(4), 985–1010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoettle, B., & Sivak, M. (2015). Potential impact of self-driving vehicles on household vehicle demand and usage. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

  • Seeley, T. D. (2002). When is self-organization used in biological systems? The Biological Bulletin, 202(3), 314–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Self-driving cars: The next revolution (2013). KPMG LLP, Center for Automotive Research.

  • Shladover, S. E. (2012). Recent international activity in cooperative vehicle–highway automation systems. office of corporate research, technology, and innovation management, Federal Highway Administration.

  • Smith, J., Gardoni, P., & Murphy, C. (2014). The responsibilities of engineers. Science and Engineering Ethics, 20(2), 519–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spieser, K., Treleaven, K., Zhang, R., Frazzoli, E., Morton, D., & Pavone, M. (2014). Toward a systematic approach to the design and evaluation of automated mobility-on-demand systems: A case study in Singapore. In Road Vehicle Automation (pp. 229–245): Springer.

  • Standard J3016 (2014). Taxonomy and definitions for terms related to on-road motor vehicle automated driving systems. Society of Automotive Engineers.

  • Steg, L., & Gifford, R. (2005). Sustainable transportation and quality of life. Journal of Transport Geography, 13(1), 59–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Safety Promise and Challenge of Automotive Electronics: Insights from Unintended Acceleration (2012). (Vol. 308): National Research Council, Committee on Electronic Vehicle Controls and Unintended Acceleration, Transportation Research Board, Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board.

  • Traffic Safety Facts: 2012 Data (2014). National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). United Nations General Assembly.

  • Unsal, C., & Bay, J. S. Spatial self-organization in large populations of mobile robots. In Intelligent Control, 1994., Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE International Symposium on, 1994 (pp. 249–254): IEEE.

  • Van de Poel, I. (2013). Translating values into design requirements. In Philosophy and Engineering: Reflections on practice, principles and process (pp. 253–266): Springer.

  • Van de Poel, I. (2015). Design for values in engineering. In J. van den Hoven, P. E. Vermaas, & I. van de Poel (Eds.), Handbook of ethics, values, and technological design (pp. 667–690). Netherlands: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Van den Hoven, J., Lokhorst, G.-J., & Van de Poel, I. (2012). Engineering and the problem of moral overload. Science and Engineering Ethics, 18(1), 143–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Vuren, T., & Smart, M. B. (1990). Route guidance and road pricing—problems, practicalities and possibilities. Transport Reviews: A Transnational Transdisciplinary Journal, 10(3), 269–283. doi:10.1080/01441649008716759.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verbeek, P. P. (2006). Materializing morality design ethics and technological mediation. Science, Technology and Human Values, 31(3), 361–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weil, V. (1984). The rise of engineering ethics. Technology in Society, 6(4), 341–345. doi:10.1016/0160-791X(84)90028-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weil, V. (2002). Engineering ethics. In R. E. Spier (Ed.), Science and technology ethics.

  • Welch, B. (2010). Beautiful and Abundant: Building the World We Want B&A Books.

  • Wright, D. (2011). A framework for the ethical impact assessment of information technology. Ethics and Information Technology, 13(3), 199–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, D., Finn, R., Gellert, R., Gutwirth, S., Schütz, P., Friedewald, M., et al. (2014). Ethical dilemma scenarios and emerging technologies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 87, 325–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Aalto University, Rakentajanaukio 4A, 02150, Espoo, Finland

    Milos N. Mladenovic

  2. Department of Philosophy, Ohio State University, 350 University Hall, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Tristram McPherson

Authors
  1. Milos N. Mladenovic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tristram McPherson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Milos N. Mladenovic.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mladenovic, M.N., McPherson, T. Engineering Social Justice into Traffic Control for Self-Driving Vehicles?. Sci Eng Ethics 22, 1131–1149 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-015-9690-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-015-9690-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation