Ethical Decisions in Software Development

This report discusses the ethical considerations in software development for self-driven cars and other technologies. It explores the principles, regulatory obligations, and recommendations for improving software development. The report also provides study material and solved assignments on Desklib.

Running head: ETHICAL DECISIONS IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Ethical Decisions in Software Development
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1ETHICAL DECISIONS IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Executive summary
The following report is prepared so as to reflect the different ethical issues that are considered
while developing any software and in various Information Technology industries. The report
focuses on a particular sector of technology business that aims in developing self-driven
autonomous cars and based on it the different ethical considerations are taken into account.
The last part of the report states an example of the Fighter aircraft and the problems related to
it and to solve those problems necessary recommendations are made under the light of self-
driven autonomous cars.

2ETHICAL DECISIONS IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Self-driving cars.....................................................................................................................3
Different principles of ethical practices pertaining to information technology and business
sectors of Self Driving Car manufacturers.................................................................................4
Comprehensive problem solving and decision- making skills for developing self-driven cars 6
Regulatory obligations and ethical issues related to software development and program
testing of self-driven cars...........................................................................................................8
Recommendations on improving the development and testing of software for the F-35 fighter
program......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
As information technology and different business sectors pertaining to different fields
are advancing with a rapid growth hence there also exists some ethical and legal
consideration that needs to be kept in mind for software developers in order to develop
software and programs associated with different automated products (Holstein and Dodig-
Crnkovic 2018). Software engineers who are associated with developing such programs gets
engaged in various social processes during the production and thus acquires certain
obligations related to the users, their clients, customers, supervisors and even from the
organization for which the software is developed. Nowadays computer ethics plays a vital
role as there arises various conceivable misuses of computers.
Software engineers who are meant to develop various software products are also
responsible for affecting the life of others and thus needs to be aware of the ethical issues
connected with the software development of the products. One such field in which the ethical
considerations need to be kept in mind is the business sectors which manufactures automatic
self-driven cars (Lin 2016). As with the concept of the self-driven cars, there exists certain
tragic dilemma based on the decision power making of the cars some extreme situations may
arise (Levine, Segev and Thode 2017). Some of the recent incidents that took place as a
result of the failure in the automation of self-driven cars, there exists a much more harder and
broader ethical boundaries in developing the self-driven cars.
Self-driving cars
Self-driven cars are defined as the type of vehicles that makes use of a combination of
cameras, sensors, radars and Artificial intelligence that helps in travelling to destination
without any human assistance. For a self-driven car to be fully autonomous, it is important

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that it is designed in such a way so that it can navigate without the intervention of human to
reach its destination over the road (Chee 2018).
Different principles of ethical practices pertaining to information
technology and business sectors of Self Driving Car manufacturers
According to some reports, there are some big technological companies like Google’s
parent, Uber, Tesla and other carmakers who are opting for different self-driving cars
manufacturing programmers. According to all these companies, the vehicles are capable of
improving for ensuring better road safety and improving the efficiency of fuel. However it is
still a debatable term in case of the fact that whether ethic is universal for reinventing the
self-driven cars (Marque Vidorreta 2017). Ethical and legal considerations plays an
important part while developing the software related to the self-driven cars as failing those
might lead to unintended consequences for safety of the public as well as for the
environment.
Some of the ethical principles that pertain to the technical challenges that are present
in the information technology and business sectors of self-driven cars include the following:
Safety: Safety is the most important fundamental principle in ethics for most of the
autonomous cars. In this case, it is necessary to keep in mind the ethical and legal
considerations related to the testing of the autonomous cars. There exists several standards
such as the ISO 26262 that specifies the ethical standards for road vehicles (Thierer and
Hagemann 2015). However for self-driving cars, the ethical standards are yet to be to
developed properly according to the different experiences that are being faced. In order to
assure the correctness of the codes that are made for developing an autonomous car, is by
following independent controls. When it comes to software or hardware used in developing
the autonomous cars, it is recommended to use laser radar as they provide high-quality data

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and thus would be beneficial for the car to function properly. In spite of this ethical principle,
some of the autonomous car manufacturers use ultra-sonic sensors which fail in providing
accurate results.
Security: For autonomous cars, ensuring security is another important principle of ethical
practices and is the fundamental requirement. There should exist some kind of lightweight
security application process to ensure the security connections in case of any mishap. For
security purposes, it is necessary that the autonomous self-driving vehicles should be
upgraded with the latest software updates (Royakkers et al. 2018).
Privacy: For self-driven cars, more the number of information are taken into consideration,
more it becomes easier for the machine to proceed with the decision making process. It is
necessary that the self-driven cars should use some kind of active signals to detect moving
obstacles in their path and also about the people whom they are carrying (Cysneiros et al.
2018). All these information collected needs to be maintained with utmost privacy.
Transparency: Transparency is one of the major prerequisite for engaging ethical principles
in developing self-driven autonomous cars. It is under the ethical principle that none of the
cars will have any upholding of information. However this becomes an utmost challenge as it
needs to maintain the privacy of the data collected as well as to provide transparency in
multiple disciplinary.
Trust: Trust is another principle which falls under the ethical consideration of the
development of the autonomous cars (Kaur and Rampersad 2018). It is under the ethical
consideration that it should ensure trust to its customers and should provide decisions while
following the rules and laws of making the software. Self-driving cars must be able to
distribute data regarding g information of the targeted location to the number the services
offered by it externally.

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Reliability: Reliability is another factor that needs to be kept in mind while ensuring the
ethical considerations. The cell network that is used within the autonomous car systems
should be reliable enough (Lipson and Kurman 2016). The sensors, the mobile networks that
are used within the car should be in a working position. For ensuring the reliability, the
software development life cycle of the system needs to undergo through certain levels
including thorough diagnostics of the vehicles and testing the sensors present within the car
(Alheeti et al. 2016).
Responsibility and accountability: For autonomous cars, the responsibility and accountability
plays an important role that needs to be redefined while paying attention to the legal
considerations (Narla 2013). For this, a brief idea can be obtained from the rob ethics where it
debates about the responsibility that needs to the taken into account for autonomous cars.
Quality assurance process: The final principal of developing autonomous cars is to follow
the ethical issues related to the quality assurance process (Lacher, Grabowski and Cook
2014). Ensuring this helps in evaluating suitable process in decision making that could be
implemented within the system.
Comprehensive problem solving and decision- making skills for developing
self-driven cars
The development of the self-driven cars are analysed by the implementation of many
enhanced as well as effective technologies that pursue to facilitate the potential customers
with the facility of the self-driven cars (Guerra 2016). The most significant technologies that
are identified to be embedded within the mechanism of the self-driven cars can be stated as
the technologies of automatic control, artificial intelligence, architecture, computer vision as
well as other enhanced technologies that can be effective for the self-driven cars (De Freitas,
Anthony and Alvarez 2019). The comparison between the manual driving and self-driven

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cars are that the automation equipment that are integrated within the system of the self-driven
cars that mobilises the way of manual driving into an effective and helpful mode of driving
cars (McBride 2016). However, it is observed on many research procedures that the
technology of the self-driven cars are quite complex for its implementation. There are mainly
four standards that are adhered regarding the implementation of self-driven cars. These are
stated in the following table.
Level 0 Automation The overall vehicle is controlled by the driver itself
Level 1 Automation that are
function specific
Specific controls of the vehicles are automated
Level 2 Automation that have
combined function
At least there are two controls which are automated
Level 3 Automation are
limited
The driver has the capability for the safety critical
functions present within the car
Level 4 Full automation The vehicle itself performs the overall features of the self-
driven cars.
The methodologies that are mainly used for the development of the self-driven cars
are depicted as follows:
Navigation system for car: The best suitable route is justified by the self-driven car with the
implementation of this navigation system that is the present location till the destination.
Location system: This determines the vehicles location for the best functioning of the self-
driven cars. This helps the vehicle to utilize the navigation system to follow the location as
determined by the traveller.
Artificial intelligence: This technology is embedded within the environment of the self-
driven cars to amplify the skills of the car ads well as to prepare the car for restricting from

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any kind of accidents. The self-driven cars are quite capable of maintaining the on road
vulnerabilities as well as mitigate them in accordance to the usage of artificial intelligence.
Regulatory obligations and ethical issues related to software development
and program testing of self-driven cars
The possible regulatory obligations that are related to the software development regarding
the technology of the self-driven cars are stated as follows:
 The artificial intelligence technology may not be capable of functioning within the
chaotic environment of the city.
 The computer system within the car can be easily hacked by the other attackers
(Faisal et al. 2019).
 The sensing as well as navigating systems of the self-driven cars could not cope with
the environmental conditions including spoofing.
 The tracking feature might not be adjusted with respect to large animals thus causing
harm to the animals.
 The present infrastructure of the roads are also to be maintained regarding the smooth
functioning of the self-driven cars.
The ethical as well as the moral reasoning regarding the automated vehicles are observed
as they are still under consideration as the overall programming needs to be verified
regarding the emergency situations if arrives regarding the execution of the self-driven cars
(Jaiswal 2017). The variability factors, the complexity factors as well as context dependency
factors may be depicted as the ethical issues that are related to the working of the self-driven
cars.

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Recommendations on improving the development and testing of software
for the F-35 fighter program
The F-35 fighter program is one of the largest and most expensive program in military
sector. But it has become the sole subject of criticism due to its various flaws and defects in
its development and testing in the software (Gogol and Müller 2017). As reported, the fighter
program is said to have a design flaws and the software developers allowed the design of the
fighter program without properly identifying and detecting the defects.
Some of the recommendations that are needed for the improvement of the fighter aircraft
include-
 It is recommended to use a low maintenance stealth technology where it uses fiber
mat instead of using stealth platforms.
 It is also recommended to use integrated avionics and fusing sensors in order to
combine information obtained from both on and off board sensors so as to improve
the identification technique of the target and also to make the pilot more aware of the
situations (Meschtscherjakov et al. 2015).
 It is also recommended to incorporate high speed networking systems within the
aircraft.
Conclusion
Self-driven cars are regarded as the future of the transportation systems and thus
needs to be successfully introduced keeping in mind all the ethical and legal considerations
while developing the software and the necessary programs needed for it. It is the sole
responsibility of the developers to follow all the ethical considerations as this new technology
requires thorough testing before they are deployed on roads and needs to be under control.
The process o the development of autonomous self-driven cars requires following all stages

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of software development including all steps of software engineering, testing and its
verification. Ethical aspects need to be considered in every aspect of its development process
including testing, evolution and its maintenance. The architectural and decisions regarding
the designing of the self-driven cars needs to be embedded with proper coding while ensuring
all the ethical aspects.
References
Alheeti, K.M.A., Gruebler, A. and McDonald-Maier, K.D., 2015, January. An intrusion
detection system against malicious attacks on the communication network of driverless cars.
In 2015 12th Annual IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference
(CCNC) (pp. 916-921). IEEE.
Chee, F.M., 2018. An Uber ethical dilemma: examining the social issues at stake. Journal of
Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 16(3), pp.261-274.
Cysneiros, L.M., Raffi, M. and do Prado Leite, J.C.S., 2018, August. Software Transparency
as a Key Requirement for Self-Driving Cars. In 2018 IEEE 26th International Requirements
Engineering Conference (RE) (pp. 382-387). IEEE.
De Freitas, J., Anthony, S.E. and Alvarez, G., 2019. Doubting driverless dilemmas.
Faisal, A., Yigitcanlar, T., Kamruzzaman, M. and Currie, G., 2019. Understanding
autonomous vehicles: A systematic literature review on capability, impact, planning and
policy. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 12(1), pp.45-72.
Gogoll, J. and Müller, J.F., 2017. Autonomous cars: in favor of a mandatory ethics
setting. Science and engineering ethics, 23(3), pp.681-700.

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Guerra, E., 2016. Planning for cars that drive themselves: Metropolitan planning
organizations, regional transportation plans, and autonomous vehicles. Journal of Planning
Education and Research, 36(2), pp.210-224.
Holstein, T. and Dodig-Crnkovic, G., 2018, May. Avoiding the intrinsic unfairness of the
trolley problem. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Software Fairness (pp. 32-
37). ACM.
Jaiswal, S., 2017. Autonomous Cars: An Adaptable Feedback Mechanism For Customised
Ethics.
Kaur, K. and Rampersad, G., 2018. Trust in driverless cars: Investigating key factors
influencing the adoption of driverless cars. Journal of Engineering and Technology
Management, 48, pp.87-96.
Lacher, A., Grabowski, R. and Cook, S., 2014, March. Autonomy, trust, and transportation.
In 2014 AAAI Spring Symposium Series.
Levine, M.L., Segev, L.L. and Thode, S.F., 2017. A Largely Unnoticed Impact on Real
Estate--Self-Driven Vehicles. Appraisal Journal, 85(1).
Lin, P., 2016. Why ethics matters for autonomous cars. In Autonomous driving (pp. 69-85).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Lipson, H. and Kurman, M., 2016. Driverless: intelligent cars and the road ahead. Mit Press.
Marque Vidorreta, I., 2017. Design and construction of an electric autonomous driving
vehicle (Master's thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya).
McBride, N., 2016. The ethics of driverless cars. ACM SIGCAS Computers and
Society, 45(3), pp.179-184.

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Meschtscherjakov, A., Tscheligi, M., Szostak, D., Ratan, R., McCall, R., Politis, I. and
Krome, S., 2015, April. Experiencing autonomous vehicles: crossing the boundaries between
a drive and a ride. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference Extended Abstracts
on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2413-2416). ACM.
Narla, S.R., 2013. The evolution of connected vehicle technology: From smart drivers to
smart cars to… self-driving cars. Ite Journal, 83(7), pp.22-26.
Royakkers, L., Timmer, J., Kool, L. and van Est, R., 2018. Societal and ethical issues of
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