Driverless Trucks Could Change Australia †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Driverless Trucks Could Change Australia? Answer: Introduction This article is about one most exciting technological advances that could have been responsible for ripping or tearing the community apart. This article talks about the invention of automated or driverless trucks. This article was released on the month of May, 2016. Australia is a nation where around two hundred billion dollar is generated by the transport sector (NewsComAu, 2017). The economy is dependent on this sector. This article says that the economy and the community will be devastated if driverless trucks are introduced. TechCrunchs prediction says that automating trucks cannot make people jobless. The truck drivers will lose their jobs and this technology will also affect the roadsides businesses. The caf employees, attendants of petrol stations and other service stations that are dependent on the economy of roadside will lose their jobs. The rate of unemployed people in Australia will rise. The future generations will get affected very badly. This essay takes an ethical app roach to describe this advanced technological invention. It finds out whether this act is ethical in terms of four main theories of ethics (Arntzenius, 2014). The four theories are called Virtue Ethics, Deontology theory, Utilitarianism theory and also Contract Theory. Utilitarianism Theory The theory of Utilitarianism deals with utility. In this context utility does not mean usage. Here it stands for happiness or pleasure. This theory says that if any type of act or policy generates happiness or pleasure among a large number of people then that policy or act is absolutely ethical (Arntzenius, 2014). This act of introducing driverless or automated trucks is supposed to take away the jobs of all the truck drivers. It will also take away the jobs of the people who used to serve in the cafes, attendants of petrol stations and other service stations that are dependent on the economy of roadside. The rate of unemployed people in Australia will rise. The future generations will get affected very badly. This essay takes an ethical approach to describe this advanced technological invention. If so many people lose their jobs then there will be economical crisis because a major part of the economy is dependent on the transport sector or industry. The community or society of Austr alia will be torn apart (Vaughn, 2015). Technology cannot be without any fault. So this technology will not be totally safe. This will lead to a chaotic situation in the country. Automated trucks will not be able to take crucial decisions. Suppose a group of people are coming in front and there is a single person walking on the other side then it will be difficult for an automated system to react. Utilitarianism theory would prefer to give happiness to most of the people and sacrifice the life of the passengers. This is an ethical issue (Niebuhr, 2013). The introduction of driverless trucks will make people jobless and this will bring dissatisfaction among the people of the society. According to Utilitarianism an act is ethically correct if it gives happiness to most people (Crimmins, 2017). Therefore according to this theory this act is not ethical. Deontology Theory This theory of Deontology says that if a person carries out their duties properly then the act is ethical. This theory does not depend on the happiness of the people or any type of contract (Playford, Roberts Playford, 2015). Here duty and ethics are related (Chen Schonger, 2017). Automated trucks will have inbuilt programs and it is the duty of those programs to incorporate safety features in it. This will protect the pedestrians as well as the passengers. This theory says humans are ends in themselves (Lazar, 2017). Introducing driverless trucks will not value the presence of human beings as most of the people who used to drive trucks would lose their jobs. The level of unemployment will increase. According to this theory this act is not ethical. Virtue Theory This theory deals with the moral values of an individual. A human does right things based on their moral values (Van Hooft, 2014). Elon Musk of Tesla said that introducing this technology would improve the life of the people. The quality of life will improve (NewsComAu, 2017). That shows that the motive behind the invention of this type of technological advancement is not wrong. Their motive was to develop the society and decrease their work load. This theory does not focus on the consequences or obligations of the people. The intention is taken into account. Therefore it can be said that from the point of view of Virtue Ethics this act is completely ethical. Contract Theory This theory of Contract states that when a person has a contract or agreement then he or she tends to become ethical in nature. The presence of a contract promotes the sense of ethics among the people. This helps to develop a better society (Fried, 2015). The automated trucks will have algorithms that imitate ethical behaviours. Every vehicle developer signs a contract for the safety issue. The economy of Australia is highly dependent on the transport sector. TechCrunchs prediction says that automating trucks cannot make people jobless. Therefore this theory says that the contract present will take care of the ethical factor of a driverless truck. Hence according to the Contract Theory the introduction of automated or driverless trucks is ethical. Conclusion It can be concluded from this essay that this advanced technology of driverless trucks will cause devastation in the country. The truck drivers and all the related businesses will be affected badly. The unemployment level will increase. There will be chaos in the society. The caf employees, attendants of petrol stations and other service stations that are dependent on the economy of roadside will lose their jobs. The rate of unemployed people in Australia will rise. The future generations will get affected very badly. This essay gave an ethical approach in order to describe this advanced technological invention. It found out whether this act is ethical in terms of four main theories of ethics .The four theories are called Virtue Ethics, Deontology theory, Utilitarianism theory and also Contract Theory. According to Utilitarianism and Deontology theory this act is unethical and according to Virtue Ethics and Contract theory it is an ethical act. References Arntzenius, F. (2014). Utilitarianism, decision theory and eternity.Philosophical Perspectives,28(1), 31-58. Chen, D. L., Schonger, M. (2017). Social preferences or sacred values? theory and evidence of deontological motivations. Crimmins, J. E. (Ed.). (2017).The Bloomsbury encyclopedia of utilitarianism. Bloomsbury Publishing. Dewey, J. (2016).Ethics. Read Books Ltd. Fried, C. (2015).Contract as promise: A theory of contractual obligation. Oxford University Press, USA. Lazar, S. (2017). Deontological Decision Theory and Agent-Centered Options.Ethics,127(3), 579-609. NewsComAu. (2017). The jobs killer is coming. Retrieved 4 September 2017, from https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/travel/the-jobs-killer-is-coming-how-driverless-trucks-could-change-australia/news-story/4f5b8a42b0452703d62e00f3e7644d7b Niebuhr, R. (2013).Moral man and immoral society: A study in ethics and politics. Westminster John Knox Press.