Question:
How driverless trucks could change Australia.
The case study that is described in the scenario is that running of trucks without human drivers in Australia. The vehicles that runs in Australia are proposed to run with robots drivers on road (“The jobs killer is coming”, 2017). This technology is considered as one of the most exited and best technology that has ever been seen by the citizens of Australia, but it is also to be considered as to ruin Australia. The Australian economy that depends on the logistics and transport industry is near about 200$ billion, not using human drivers would greatly affect the economy. The introduction of smart trucks in Australia is equally profitable as well as not profitable. Running trucks with drivers that does not needs food, sleep or any other facilities that human drivers needs is a great advantage for the economy of Australia, but at the same time there increases a great sector of unemployment for the citizens of Australia. The truck drivers whose living is from driving the trucks are no more needed by the truck owners. As a result they are left unemployed.
The case study that is taken mentions the ethical theory of utilitarianism as because there is a pleasure of having vehicles running on road without the human drivers (Goetghebeur et al., 2015). The cars and trucks that run on road will be run automatically by the robot drivers. The utilitarianism theory of ethics deals not only with the amount of pleasure, it deals with the happiness quality. The calculus of utilitarianism is considered as unreasonable. The quality of happiness is not possible to quantify. The principle of utilitarianism is the “Greatest Happiness Principle”. Utilitarianism is the way to gain the capability of getting happiness for all the people. There are mainly two types of utilitarianism that are mainly faced in the ethical theory of this case study.
Act utilitarianism- The utility principle is applied only to all the alternatives that come in the situation where choices arise (Feiwel, 2016). The act which brings the best result of all the results that comes is the act utilitarianism. In this case study the best choice is to start the use of robotic drivers that are introduced in Australia. The advantages of the having robot drivers are much more than their disadvantages.
Rule utilitarianism- The validity of rules that conduct moral principles are the rule utilitarianism. The rule of keeping the promise is done by looking the consequences of the present world in which promises are broken very easily (Treviqo & Tilly, 2015). After breaking the rules, the impact is taken as good or bad. The rule utilitarianism in this case study is implementing robot drivers. The impact that will come through will be seen afterwards.
The case study of having driverless trucks on roads of Australia gives the ethics of deontology as because it provides the wrongness to the task it is showing towards the truck drivers (Baynes, 2103). Deontology is the approach where the ethics focus on the wrongness and the rightness of the actions that is being done. According to deontology, a situation is considered to be right or as wrong depends on what action it has actually occurred. Deontology is also known as the Moral Absolutism. The obligation based and the duty based ethics are sometimes known as deontology. The duty is bonded with the ethical rules by a deontologist. Immanuel Kant introduced some modern ethics of deontology in 18th century (Al-Aidaros, Shamsudin & Idris, 2103). Three works of moral philosophy was proposed by Kant. They are “Critique of Practical Reason” proposed in the year 1788, “Metaphysics of Morals” in the year 1797 and “Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals” in 1785. He formulated deontology in different ways:
The actions that are done by one self should be considered to become a law which is accepted by the universe and are also in such a way so that the action can be applicable to all (Lazar, 2017). But in this case study, the action is not beneficial to all the citizens of Australia.
Humanity should always be treated by the actions that are being done. Implementing driverless trucks does not serve the humanity. It arises a situation where there drivers faces problem of losing the job.
The virtue theory is the ethics approach that faces more on the character of an individual and it is considered as an ethical thinking (Bai, 2017). The proper goal of human life is considered in the ethics of virtue theory and the goals that are achieved can be possessed for lifetime. This is known as Eudaimonism, one of the standards of virtue ethics. This virtue ethics are used to resolve the problems, dilemmas and conflicts of the action. In this case study, no such individual characters are emphasized upon (Neubert & Dyck, 2016). The main emphasis is on a community of people who are truck drivers and their families. The second standard of virtue of ethics is care that is related to the ethics. The terms that a man thinks are autonomy and justice whereas woman thinks them as caring. It is a change on how the morality is viewed and also virtues that are shifted towards the exemplification by woman. This includes taking care, self practice and nature ability (Cowton, 2015). The third standard of virtue is the theory of ethics that is based on agent based. The admirable traits such as compassion, kindness and benevolence come under this theory of agent based.
The moral and the political obligations depend on the contract theory of ethics. The argument or contracts that are done for implementing a rule or a system is known as the contract theory (Mansell, 2015). The case study that is elaborated in this paper has the contract of the government of the implementation of driverless truck on roads of Australia. Prime Minister of Australia Mr. Malcolm Turnbull said the implementation of the robot drivers in the vehicles will be an interesting phase in development of the technology of Australia (Shafer-Landau, 2014). The government supports the idea behind this. This contract is nothing related with the individual or personal or the intent of the parties. The contract that are involved in the system are that the people of the country should not be harmed by the act that is to be enforced and also all the citizens must rely on each other to support the agreement and follow the system. The government enforces agreements and laws for the system that are signed (Chell et al., 2016). The social contracts are considered as those who come under the government. All the citizens are to follow the rules and regulations of the government that comes in process.
Conclusion
In this case study, it is discussed about implementing robots drivers in the vehicles of Australia which gives a benefit to the economy of Australia. This idea gives advantage to the Uber, Apple and Google that helps to do the transportation fast and work with less cost. But the truck drivers and their family members suffer as they are left jobless due to implementation of driverless trucks. The vehicles that runs in Australia are proposed to run with robots drivers on road. This technology is considered as one of the most exited and best technology that has ever been seen by the citizens of Australia, but it is also to be considered as to ruin Australia. The Australian economy that depends on the logistics and transport industry is near about 200$ billion, not using human drivers would greatly affect the economy. For the case study, four ethical theories are stated that includes utilitarianism, deontology, virtue and contract. The theories on how they are related to the case study are discussed elaborately.
References
Al-Aidaros, A. H., Shamsudin, F. M., & Idris, K. M. (2013). Ethics and ethical theories from an Islamic perspective. International Journal of Islamic Thought, 4, 1.
Bai, F. (2017). Beyond Dominance and Competence: A Moral Virtue Theory of Status Attainment. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21(3), 203-227.
Baynes, K. (2013). Critical theory. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Chell, E., Spence, L. J., Perrini, F., & Harris, J. D. (2016). Social entrepreneurship and business ethics: does social equal ethical?. Journal of Business Ethics, 133(4), 619-625.
Cowton, C. J. (2017). Virtue theory and accounting. Springer.
Feiwel, G. R. (Ed.). (2016). Arrow and the Foundations of the Theory of Economic Policy. Springer.
Goetghebeur, M. M., Wagner, M., Bond, K., & Hofmann, B. (2015). Analysis Of Ethical Theories And Principles Embedded In Holistic Mcda: A Primer To Ethics-Based Appraisal Of Value In Healthcare. Value in Health, 18(3), A101.
Lazar, S., 2017. Deontological Decision Theory and Agent-Centered Options. Ethics, 127(3), pp.579-609.
Mansell, S. (2015). Book Review: Rejoinder to Veldman’s review of Capitalism, Corporations and the Social Contract: A Critique of Stakeholder Theory (Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 271-275). Sage UK: London, England: Sage Publications.
Neubert, M. J., & Dyck, B. (2016). Developing sustainable management theory: goal-setting theory based in virtue. Management Decision, 54(2), 304-320.
Shafer-Landau, R. (2014). The fundamentals of ethics.
The jobs killer is coming. (2017). NewsComAu. Retrieved 9 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
Treviqo, A. J., & Tilly, C. (2015). George C. Homans: History, theory, and method. Routledge.
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