December 2021
Video of the 23rd meeting: Autonomous vehicles: ethical issues
The Values and Policies of Personal Information (VP-IP) Chair at Institut Mines-Télécom and the Connected Cars and Cyber Security (C3S) Chair at Télécom Paris, in partnership with the Comité national pilote d'éthique du numérique (CNPEN) and Sorbonne Université, joined forces to organize this conference, which took place in hybrid format on Tuesday December 14, 2021 from 9:15 - 11:30 am at the Centre International de Conférence Sorbonne Université, 4 place Jussieu, 75 005 Paris.
The first part of the event was devoted to the presentation of Opinion No. 2 on autonomous vehicles by the Comité national pilote d'éthique du numérique, by its two rapporteurs, Raja Chatila and Catherine Tessier.
In the second part, Xavier Delache, Deputy Director of Studies and Forecasting at the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, presented the national strategy for the development of automated road mobility.
Programme :
9:15 am: Introductory remarks
9:30am: Presentation of CNPEN opinion no. 2: The “autonomous vehicle”: ethical issues, Catherine Tessier and Raja Chatila (rapporteurs) (video at 14'30)
10:10: The national strategy for the development of automated road mobility, Xavier Delache, Deputy Director of Studies and Forecasting, French Ministry of Ecological Transition (video at 52')
→ Download the presentation: The national strategy for the development of automated road mobility
10:30 am: Debate between members of the CNPEN “Autonomous Vehicle” working group and the public
- OPINION N°2 The “autonomous vehicle”: ethical issues
On May 20, 2021, the Comité national pilote d'éthique du numérique (CNPEN) published an opinion on the ethical issues raised by road vehicles equipped with automated driving functions, known as “autonomous vehicles” (opinion adopted unanimously by the members present at the CNPEN plenary meeting on April 7, 2021). This subject had been explicitly mentioned in the mission letter sent to the Comité consultatif national d'éthique (CCNE) by the Prime Minister in July 2019, and a CNPEN working group was set up in December 2019, hearing from around ten stakeholders. In addition to its two rapporteurs, Raja Chatila and Catherine Tessier, this working group included Alexei Grinbaum, Caroline Martin, Jérôme Perrin and Claire Levallois-Barth, co-founder of the VP-IP chair and member of the CNPEN.
In its opinion, a 24-page document, the CNPEN points out in its preamble that "the large-scale deployment of autonomous vehicles will require international regulation. Prior to this, the ethical issues they raise must be studied". These questions are broken down into five areas:
- Ethical issues relating to the terminology used to describe the vehicle and the functions associated with its automation,
- Ethical issues relating to road safety and operational reliability,
- Ethical issues relating to human control of the vehicle,
- Ethical issues related to personal freedoms,
- Ethical issues related to social and environmental impacts.
19 recommendations, aimed at public authorities and automakers, are set out, with the relevance of the reasons given for automating driving functions (road safety, social benefits, environmental impact and ecology, economic reasons) also discussed. Questions relating to legal liability in the event of an accident caused by an automated driving vehicle are also addressed in an appendix.
Speakers :
Claude Kirchner, Director of the Comité National Pilote d'Éthique du Numérique (CNPEN).
Claude Kirchner is Director of Research Emeritus at Inria, where he was formerly Scientific Director. He heads the National Digital Ethics Steering Committee and is a member of the French National Ethics Advisory Committee. He is a member of the CNIL foresight committee and the ANSSI scientific council. He co-chairs the Franco-Japanese cybersecurity research initiative.
Twitter : @ClaudeKirchner
Guillaume Duc, Senior Lecturer in Security, Co-Holder of the Connected Cars and Cyber Security Chair at Télécom Paris.
Guillaume Duc has been a lecturer at Télécom Paris since 2009, in the Communications and Electronics department, and is co-titular of the Connected Cars and Cyber Security (C3S) chair. His research focuses on the security of embedded systems, and in particular on aspects linked to hardware/software interaction (e.g. vulnerabilities linked to hardware implementation, or hardware components designed to improve security).
Catherine Tessier, Senior Researcher, ONERA Scientific Integrity and Research Ethics Officer.
Catherine Tessier is a Senior Scientist at ONERA in Toulouse and ONERA's Scientific Integrity and Research Ethics Officer. She teaches at ISAE-SUPAERO. Her research focuses on the modeling of ethical frameworks and on ethical issues linked to the “autonomy” of robots. She is a member of the Comité national pilote d'éthique du numérique and a member of the Comité d'éthique de la défense. She was a member of the UNESCO ad hoc Expert Group for the development of an instrument on the ethics of Artificial Intelligence.
Raja Chatila, Professor Emeritus at Sorbonne University
Raja Chatila is a researcher at the Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, Sorbonne Université-CNRS. His work covers a wide range of topics in robotics, AI and ethics. He is a member of the Comité national pilote d'éthique du numérique and co-chair of the AI group responsible for the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI.ai).
Xavier Delache, Deputy Director of Studies and Forecasting, French Ministry of Transition
Xavier Delache is a general engineer of bridges, waterways and forests.
Claire Levallois-Barth, Professor of Law, Coordinator of the Values and Policies Chair at Institut Mines-Télécom
Claire Levallois-Barth is a lecturer and researcher in law at Télécom Paris, part of the Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT) and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris IP Paris. She is Coordinator of the Values and Policies of Personal Information Chair at ITM. Claire Levallois-Barth is a member of the Comité national pilote d'éthique du numérique.
WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE PATRONS, PARTNERS AND MEMBER SCHOOLS OF THE VP-IP AND C3S CHAIRS
