Impact Of Autonomous Trucks On The Australian Transport Industry

Utilitarianism Perspective

The introduction of driverless and autonomous trucks in Australia needs to deal with industry of transport and logistics. The technology will change the very landscape of transportation industry. The drivers would not have to drive their trucks anymore. The drivers will have to be detained rom their existing jobs. This would help to decrease the financial cost of the country. Apart from the fact that the people who are associated with the transportation jobs will be affected, the economic condition of the country will suffer as well (Poorsartep & Stephens, 2015)l.

The theory of utilitarianism shows that an action is good as long as it is targeted for the betterment of maximum number of people. According to the theory, an action is good and moral as long as it increases the amount of happiness in the world. From this perspective, the autonomous trucks in Australia will be highly disruptive for the people particularly living in Australia (Wang, Quddus & Ison, 2013).. The economy of Australia is closely linked to the transport industry. Moreover, a huge number of Australians are dependent on the transport systems for their jobs such as petrol pumps, motels and other unconventional jobs (Mill, 2016). The autonomous trucks will disrupt their daily jobs and these members of the community will be left unguaranteed with jobs hurting their future generations as well. To counter this argument, critics can management that the self-driving trucks will help to eliminate nearly 90% of accidents that are due to human error (Goodall, 2014). This is true as research has proposed that accidents will be reduced by 56% after the introduction of autonomous cars. But this scenario is not particularly relatable with Australia as the GDP is tied intricately with the transportation department and the side businesses it helps to prosper. Including autonomous trucks will eliminate the need for jobs relating to drivers resulting in mass unemployment (Van Wee & Roeser, 2013). From an utilitarian perspective, this will increase the number of unhappy people currently residing in Australia. Hence from an utilitarian perspective, introduction of the autonomous trucks in Australia will be ethically immoral as it the negative consequence of the action will be more in Australia than the actual benefit that the action will provide.

According to the deontological perspective, the moral is based on the people’s view who are non-consequentialist. It puts major focus on the right and wrong of the actions rather than the decisions. According to the theory’s perspective, the situation could be termed as both right and wrong but the action is given more importance than the consequences of the action. The decision of implementing driverless trucks in Australia has a lot of advantages. It would put an end to road accident that re mainly caused by human error. The truck drivers would not have to worry about the road conditions and can carry on with their work as they like. The computer generated algorithms has the capacity to stop accidents by accurately measuring stopping distance which dramatically prevents accidents. Drunk driven accidents will reduce. A new line of jobs would be created due to the autonomous trucks like new chargers and extra electronic appendages. But contrast to this advantages, the new autonomous vehicles will wreak havoc on the economy of Australia due to its integration with the transportation department. But the decision taken by the Australian government must have been after some thorough analysis and their actions were justifiable as there are immense benefits with the integration of autonomous trucks. The action of implementing the vehicles is noble and ethical but the consequences that it will have on the people of Australia will be negative as their will be loss of jobs (Storey, 2016). The consequences of the action then has to be taken by the government to supplement the drivers who are affected due to the cause. Proper consent needs to be taken by the transport union as well. Thus from the deontological perspective, the action of implementing the driverless trucks in Australia is morally correct.

Deontological Perspective

According to the virtue theory, the main focus is given on the individual’s mind and the virtue of the character who is performing the action. This theory is one of the main approaches of the ethical theory. The consequences of the action on the general public of Australia will be devastating making their generation’s future unpredictable (Alfano & Fairweather, 2013). It will lead to the loss of jobs and promote unemployment. Moreover, the laws in Australia re not the developed to support a case if in the future a mishap occurs where the autonomous trucks are related. Moreover, the autonomous vehicles run on computerized systems. And just like most other systems, the system is not 10% foolproof. In the future, it might be possible that the system can fall prey to hackers (Chaison, 2018). The future implication of drones and other computerized system is still uncertain and the job loss due to autonomy of robots is still debatable. Although not all, but the people in the transportation lifestyle will be the worst hit. As per virtue, we cannot ignore one life over another’s personal gains. Hence from the theory of virtue, the implementation of the Australian autonomous trucks will be morally incorrect (Bright, Winn & Kanov, 2014).

This theory prescribes some specific arguments that helps to perform prescribed activities efficiently. The study of the contract based theory would define the way in which different businesses and individuals would be able to construct and develop some legal based agreements (Koszegi, 2014). The theory of contract would draw some inferences based on the economic and financial behaviour as different kind. The contract based theory states that certain laws need to be followed to maintain social harmony in of parties would have different level of incentives in order to perform some particular form of actions. The Australians should formulate methods to formulate a way for the betterment of the community who will be affected due to the autonomous trucks (Cvit Ani & Zhang, 2013). The people and the different businesses that would follow the contract based theory would have to follow the basic guidelines that would be discussed before the starting of any kind of project or work (Cvit Ani & Zhang, 2013). If the people would break the agreements then they would be answerable for the consequences. Based on the current scenario, if the proposal of the driverless trucks gets sanctioned, then the people would have to accept the use of the current technology of automation (Riley, 2018). The companies who will be selling the autonomous trucks would have to fallow some strict regulations so that the existing transportation non autonomous truck drivers are not affected to a high level. Companies run by Elon musk are proposing to make Australian trucks 100% autonomous by the end of 2025. Laws should be proposed to extend the deal up to a minimum of 20years so that the proposed business related to the transportation industry can get time to compensate for the situation. People who break the law will be punished (Koszegi, 2014). Hence, according to the contract theory. The Australian autonomous trucks introduction in Australia will be morally welcome move if the contracts and laws are accordingly followed.

Conclusion

To conclude the report. It can be stated that the four types of theories ascertained the moral implication of the Australian driver less trucks in Australia. The paper discussed about the ethically moral aspect of the technology and what would be the best way to portray the situation. Although it is quite difficult to argue which theory is better than the other, it is up to the communities themselves and the government who has to decide what is morally right to give equal benefit to each and everyone in the society.

References

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