Competing Duties — Passenger Safety vs. Aggregate Harm Minimization
S · State
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/165#Competing_Duties_—_Passenger_Safety_vs._Aggregate_Harm_Minimization
Properties
Instance of
Active period
From assignment to risk assessment team through submission of recommendation
Affected parties
Automobile manufacturer
Cyclists
Engineer A
Motorcycle riders
Pedestrians
Vehicle passengers
Confidence
0.93
Importance
high
Subject
Engineer A's competing professional duties: duty as consultant to client (automobile manufacturer seeking passenger-protective system) vs. paramount duty to protect public health, safety, and welfare (including third-party road users)
Terminated by
Recommendation submitted; Engineer A withdraws; or client adopts harm-minimizing standard
Triggering event
Engineer A asked to recommend between passenger-protective and harm-minimizing algorithms, creating direct tension between client service obligations and public welfare obligations
Urgency level
high
Source Evidence
Source text
does the vehicle's system choose the outcome that will likely result in the greatest potential for safety for the vehicle's passengers or does the vehicle's software system instead choose an option in which the least amount of potential harm is done to any of those involved in an accident
Text references
does the vehicle's system choose the outcome that will likely result in the greatest potential for safety for the vehicle's passengers or does the vehicle's software system instead choose an option in which the least amount of potential harm is done to any of those involved in an accident
TTL
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/165#Competing_Duties_—_Passenger_Safety_vs._Aggregate_Harm_Minimization> a proeth:CompetingDutiesState,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Competing Duties — Passenger Safety vs. Aggregate Harm Minimization" ;
proeth:activeperiod "From assignment to risk assessment team through submission of recommendation" ;
proeth:affectedparties "Automobile manufacturer",
"Cyclists",
"Engineer A",
"Motorcycle riders",
"Pedestrians",
"Vehicle passengers" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "State" ;
proeth:confidence "0.93" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "165" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "1" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-27T23:23:14.080776+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "165" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-27T23:23:14.080776+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:sourcetext "does the vehicle's system choose the outcome that will likely result in the greatest potential for safety for the vehicle's passengers or does the vehicle's software system instead choose an option in which the least amount of potential harm is done to any of those involved in an accident" ;
proeth:stateclass "Competing Duties State" ;
proeth:subject "Engineer A's competing professional duties: duty as consultant to client (automobile manufacturer seeking passenger-protective system) vs. paramount duty to protect public health, safety, and welfare (including third-party road users)" ;
proeth:terminatedby "Recommendation submitted; Engineer A withdraws; or client adopts harm-minimizing standard" ;
proeth:textreferences "does the vehicle's system choose the outcome that will likely result in the greatest potential for safety for the vehicle's passengers or does the vehicle's software system instead choose an option in which the least amount of potential harm is done to any of those involved in an accident" ;
proeth:triggeringevent "Engineer A asked to recommend between passenger-protective and harm-minimizing algorithms, creating direct tension between client service obligations and public welfare obligations" ;
proeth:urgencylevel "high" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 165 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-27T23:40:57.912973"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 165 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
165
Discovered in pass
1
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-02-27T23:23:14.080776+00:00
First case
165
Generated
2026-02-27T23:23:14.080776+00:00
Attributed to
Case 165 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-27T23:40:57.912973
Generated by
ProEthica Case 165 Extraction