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Equal Chances or Fewer Victims? Moral Judgments in Autonomous Vehicle Dilemmas

Alexander Matros et al.

Games2026https://doi.org/10.3390/g17010010article
AJG 1ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

We examine the moral dilemma of how autonomous vehicles (AVs) should be programmed to act in unavoidable crash scenarios involving trade-offs between saving one life and saving many. We report results from three experimental studies that investigate individuals’ preferences over alternative AV decision rules in stylized crash scenarios. Across designs, we find robust support for a probabilistic decision rule that assigns passengers and pedestrians equal ex ante chances of survival (a 50:50 rule). This preference persists across different framings and remains salient even when additional probabilistic options are introduced.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/g17010010

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@article{alexander2026,
  title        = {{Equal Chances or Fewer Victims? Moral Judgments in Autonomous Vehicle Dilemmas}},
  author       = {Alexander Matros et al.},
  journal      = {Games},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/g17010010},
}

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Equal Chances or Fewer Victims? Moral Judgments in Autonomous Vehicle Dilemmas

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.