Utilitarianism Theory
Discuss About The Ex Ante Evaluation Policies Transport Plans.
With the introduction of driverless trucks in Australia, the country is facing a technological advancement that can change the landscape of the transportation business in Australia. With the new system in place, the drivers would not have to worry about driving their trucks. The result of the new system could have the potential to devastate Australia as thousands of drivers will lose their existing jobs (Poorsartep & Stephens, 2015). Due to this, the economic condition of the country will be affected.
The theory of utilitarianism proposes that if the action is targeted towards the benefit of a huge number of people, then the action can is morally good or correct. If the action increases the amount of happiness in the world, then according to the theory the action is ethical in nature. If this perspective is taken into consideration, then the introduction of driverless trucks in Australian would be highly disruptive for the nation and its respective people (Mill, 2016). The Australian economy is closely linked with the transportation sector and the GDP is closely related to the sector as well. Moreover, many people in Australia are reliant on the jobs that are created from this sector such as motels, petrol pumps and cafes. The new generation of trucks will destroy their livelihood living them to fend for themselves and making their future insecure (Wang, Quddus & Ison, 2013). Moreover, the new tehcnologies also inhibits their human rights by providing them less sick leaves and maternity pays which was provided traditionally by previous Australian contractors. Critics can counter this argument by saying that it will help to decrease the number of accidents which are caused due to human errors. This is particularly true as research has shown that introduction of driverless autonomus cars can reduce the road accidents by 55% (Goodall, 2014). But this statsistic cannot be implemented on Autralia as despite the benefits, the implementation of the technology will disrupt many side businesses that are limked to the transportation sectir (Van Wee & Roeser, 2013). Through the prespective of an utilitaranian, the amount of unhappy people in Austrlaia will increase. Thus after employing the utilatartianinan perspective, it can be seen that the driverless truck implementation will be ethically immoral as the negative consewunce due to the action is more than the actual benefit provided by the action itself.
Deontology Theory
The deontological perspective puts a lot of stress on the rights and wrongs of the action instead of evaluating the rights and wrong of the decisions. The moral is dependent on the view of the non-consequentialist individuals. The decision of introducing the driverless trucks in Australia has a lot of benefits attached to it. The decision will reduce the number of accidents that occur due to human faults (Storey, 2016). The implementation will help the trucks to use advanced computational algorithms to check the stopping distance and assess if any obstacles are present on the road before applying the brakes. The amount of drunk riven accidents will reduce as well. The implementation will also help the Australian billionaires to reap a huge amount of profit despite the inevitable consequence of the community breaking down due to loss of jobs and services. The driverless trucks will help to prevent any distractions from the drivers. The driverless cars will also resort in a technique called platooning which has shown significant improvement in traffic congestions and communications. The trucks will also have the capability to communicate with each other helping them to recognize road risks and traffic problems. The Australian government must have taken some analysis before deciding on implementing this decision so some benefits must be associated with it. But critics are determined that the decision is risky and can cripple the Australian economy. If that is true, then the Australian government has to take initiatives to supplement the drivers with proper benefits after the implementation so that they can prosper effectively. The action could also make other companies interested in investing in new product development to assist the new technology. Thus from a deontological perspective, the initial action had a lot of benefits than the wrongs of the consequences. Hence, the implementation of driverless cars in Australia is ethically correct according to the deontological perspective.
The virtue theory states that the prime focus is given to the character’s virtue and the mind of the individual. It is one of the important approaches of the ethical theory (Alfano & Fairweather, 2013). The result of implementing the driverless cars in Australia will have a negative consequence on the communities of Australia. Moreover, in case a mishap occurs due to the driverless cars, the Australian laws are not modified enough to support the case in any one’ s favour as the technology related laws are relatively new (Chaison, 2018). Moreover, the technology used in the driverless cars are not fool proof and research has shown that the vehicles can be hacked to accelerate and break according to the whims of the hackers. As per virtue, introduction of a new technology for the betterment of the society is not justifiable if the other members of the community are abandoned to fend on their own. The intricate connection of the transportation sector with the Australian GDP should be considered as well. Moreover, the implications of computerised systems and drones in the future is also debatable. One life cannot be ignored over the personal gains of another (Bright, Winn & Kanov, 2014). Therefore, implementation of the driverless trucks in Australia will be morally incorrect.
Virtue Theory
The theory of contract states that if some prescribed activities are specified then various individuals and businesses will be able to develop and construct legal based agreements. The theory is devised from the financial and economic behaviour of different scenarios (Cvit Ani & Zhang, 2013). The theory clearly states that certain laws should be imposed to maintain a social harmony among all the participants to perform a certain set of actions. The need to create laws for proper implementation of Driverless trucks in Australia is evident (Riley, 2018). The multinational businesses that are in the work for implementing the new technology in Australian needs to follow some specific guidelines in order to transition from the conventional driving processes smoothly without causing major damage to the communities who are linked with the transportation sector. The individuals would be answerable for the consequence if a particular law is broken (Koszegi, 2014). Therefore, according to the contract based theory, the introduction of driverless trucks in Australia is highly welcomed provided that some rules and regulations are maintained for the proper growth of the communities alongside the new technology.
Conclusion
To conclude the report, it can be stated that four ethical theories have been applied to determine the morality of the implementation of driverless trucks in Australia. The moral aspect of the technology has been maintained and the best way to manage the scenario ethically has been discussed as well. Justifying a particular theory over the other is difficult, herefore the concerned bodies and the communities ned to work together to assess whether the implication of the action will be morally correct for everyone and whether each and everyone gets equal benefits during the implementation.
References
Alfano, M., & Fairweather, A. (2013). Situationism and virtue theory.
Bright, D. S., Winn, B. A., & Kanov, J. (2014). Reconsidering virtue: Differences of perspective in virtue ethics and the positive social sciences. Journal of Business Ethics, 119(4), 445-460.
Chaison, G. (2018). Virtue at Work: Ethics for Individuals, Managers, and Organizations, by Geoff Moore. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017, 240 pp., ISBN: 9780198793441, Price£ 30, paperback. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(1), 233-234.
Chen, D. L., & Schonger, M. (2017). Social preferences or sacred values? theory and evidence of deontological motivations.
Cvit Ani, J. A. A., & Zhang, J. (2013). Contract theory in continuous-time models. Springer-Verlag,.
Ferrell, O. C., Rogers, M. M., Ferrell, L., & Sawayda, J. (2013). A framework for understanding ethical supply chain decision making. Journal of Marketing Channels, 20(3-4), 260-287.
Goodall, N. J. (2014). Machine ethics and automated vehicles. In Road vehicle automation (pp. 93-102). Springer, Cham.
Koszegi, B. (2014). Behavioral contract theory. Journal of Economic Literature, 52(4), 1075-1118.
Mill, J. S. (2016). Utilitarianism. In Seven Masterpieces of Philosophy (pp. 337-383). Routledge.
Poorsartep, M., & Stephens, T. (2015). Truck automation opportunities. In Road Vehicle Automation 2 (pp. 173-185). Springer, Cham.
Riley, V. (2018). Operator reliance on automation: Theory and data. In Automation and human performance (pp. 39-56). Routledge.
Storey, K. (2016). The evolution of commute work in the resource sectors in Canada and Australia. The Extractive Industries and Society, 3(3), 584-593.
Van Wee, B., & Roeser, S. (2013). Ethical theories and the cost–benefit analysis-based ex ante evaluation of transport policies and plans. Transport reviews, 33(6), 743-760.
Wang, C., Quddus, M. A., & Ison, S. G. (2013). The effect of traffic and road characteristics on road safety: A review and future research direction. Safety science, 57, 264-275.
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