  Ethical thought experiments such as the trolley dilemma have been
investigated extensively in the past, showing that humans act in a utilitarian
way, trying to cause as little overall damage as possible. These trolley
dilemmas have gained renewed attention over the past years; especially due to
the necessity of implementing moral decisions in autonomous driving vehicles.
We conducted a set of experiments in which participants experienced modified
trolley dilemmas as the driver in a virtual reality environment. Participants
had to make decisionsbetween two discrete options: driving on one of two lanes
where different obstacles came into view. Obstacles included a variety of
human-like avatars of different ages and group sizes. Furthermore, we tested
the influence of a sidewalk as a potential safe harbor and a condition
implicating a self-sacrifice. Results showed that subjects, in general, decided
in a utilitarian manner, sparing the highest number of avatars possible with a
limited influence of the other variables. Our findings support that human
behavior is in line with the utilitarian approach to moral decision making.
This may serve as a guideline for the implementation of moral decisions in
ADVs.
