Third-Party Non-Client Welfare Consideration Invoked in Autonomous Vehicle Case
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/165#Third-Party_Non-Client_Welfare_Consideration_Invoked_in_Autonomous_Vehicle_Case
Properties
Instance of
Third-PartyNon-ClientWelfareConsiderationinAutonomousSystemDesign
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#Third-PartyNon-ClientWelfareConsiderationinAutonomousSystemDesign
Applied to
Autonomous vehicle operating system risk assessment
Harm-distribution scenario evaluation
Balancing with
Client commercial interests
Passenger safety preferences
Concrete expression
Engineer A's risk assessment obligations extend to the welfare of pedestrians, bystanders, and other third parties who are not clients or passengers of the autonomous vehicle but who are foreseeably exposed to risk from the system's harm-distribution decisions — these third parties' welfare must be explicitly considered in the risk assessment
Confidence
0.85
Importance
high
Interpretation
The public welfare obligation in the autonomous vehicle context specifically encompasses non-client third parties who bear the risk of harm from the system's decisions — their welfare is not subordinate to the interests of the automobile manufacturer or vehicle passengers
Invoked by
Engineer A Autonomous Vehicle Risk Assessment Team Engineer
Tension resolution
Third-party welfare must be given explicit and affirmative consideration in the risk assessment, not treated as secondary to client or passenger interests
Source Evidence
Source text
The overriding ethical responsibility of a professional engineer is to hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
Text references
Engineer A has a responsibility to fully and actively participate as a member of the engineering risk management team, clearly and unambiguously express any and all concerns he has regarding the safety of the proposed autonomous vehicle operation system.
The overriding ethical responsibility of a professional engineer is to hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
TTL
@prefix case165: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/165#> .
@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#> .
case165:Third-Party_Non-Client_Welfare_Consideration_Invoked_in_Autonomous_Vehicle_Case a proeth:Third-PartyNon-ClientWelfareConsiderationinAutonomousSystemDesign,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Third-Party Non-Client Welfare Consideration Invoked in Autonomous Vehicle Case" ;
proeth:appliedto "Autonomous vehicle operating system risk assessment",
"Harm-distribution scenario evaluation" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Client commercial interests",
"Passenger safety preferences" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's risk assessment obligations extend to the welfare of pedestrians, bystanders, and other third parties who are not clients or passengers of the autonomous vehicle but who are foreseeably exposed to risk from the system's harm-distribution decisions — these third parties' welfare must be explicitly considered in the risk assessment" ;
proeth:confidence "0.85" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "165" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-27T23:30:37.781391+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "165" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-27T23:30:37.781391+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The public welfare obligation in the autonomous vehicle context specifically encompasses non-client third parties who bear the risk of harm from the system's decisions — their welfare is not subordinate to the interests of the automobile manufacturer or vehicle passengers" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Autonomous Vehicle Risk Assessment Team Engineer" ;
proeth:principleclass "Third-Party Non-Client Welfare Consideration in Autonomous System Design" ;
proeth:sourcetext "The overriding ethical responsibility of a professional engineer is to hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Third-party welfare must be given explicit and affirmative consideration in the risk assessment, not treated as secondary to client or passenger interests" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A has a responsibility to fully and actively participate as a member of the engineering risk management team, clearly and unambiguously express any and all concerns he has regarding the safety of the proposed autonomous vehicle operation system.",
"The overriding ethical responsibility of a professional engineer is to hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 165 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-27T23:40:57.923820"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 165 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
165
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-27T23:30:37.781391+00:00
First case
165
Generated
2026-02-27T23:30:37.781391+00:00
Attributed to
Case 165 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-27T23:40:57.923820
Generated by
ProEthica Case 165 Extraction