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Protecting people rather than property or animals will be the priority under pioneering new German legal guidelines for the operation of driverless cars, the transport ministry said on Wednesday.
Germany is home to some of the world’s largest car companies, including Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), Daimler (DAIGn.DE) and BMW (BMWG.DE), all of which are investing heavily in self-driving technology.
German regulators have been working on rules for how such vehicles should be programmed to deal with a dilemma, such as choosing between hitting a cyclist or accelerating beyond legal speeds to avoid an accident.
Under new ethical guidelines - drawn up by a government-appointed committee comprising experts in ethics, law and technology - the software that controls such cars must be programmed to avoid injury or death of people at all cost.
