Sophie walked out of the elevator and entered the office's common workspace with her usual zeal. Her colleagues always joked about her being the quintessential summer intern - full of energy, enthusiasm, and naivete. But their teasing didn't bother hersince taking several information systems courses during the previous school year, she finally knew that she wanted to focus on technology as a central part of her career. Luckily, she had found a summer internship working for a local startup. The main focus of this company was developing new types of sensor fusion technologies that major car manufacturers could use in the mass production of self-driving cars. While the auto companies certainly had the core elements of a vehicle mastered (e.g., engines, drivetrains, etc.), the new systems and sensors that self-driving cars would require to "see the road" were out of their purview. The extra bounce in Sophie's step today was due to the fact that this would be her first test drive in a self-driving car. The company had just finished creating prototypes of its latest sensors, and all of the modeling and simulating had been completed with promising results. The next phase of the development cycle required an actual road test to see how a sensor would perform in a real world-environment. Sophie and one of the developers grabbed a set of keys and walked down to the garage. While the parking area was mainly filled with employee vehicles, there was a special section for the company's small fleet of test vehicles. Sophie always liked to joke around and refer to the cars as Ecto-1, since all of the lights and sensors on top of the cars' roofs made the cars look like the Ectomobile from the popular Ghostbusters movies. Meryl, the developer who would be sitting in the driver's seat, affixed the sensor to the appropriate spot on the hood and plugged it in. She explained to Sophie that the sensor they would be testing today was designed to help the vehicle "see" the density of objects and hazards in the road more intelligently and allow the car to discern between the risks posed by a large rock in the road (abort, abort!) versus a paper bag (full steam ahead!). Upon starting the car, all of the diagnostics checked out-they were ready to hit the road! Sophie had to admit that it was weird sitting in a car that was hurtling down the road without anyone touching the wheel. Meryl was constantly looking at the various screens in the vehicle to check how the sensor was performing-every time a car merged in front of them, Sophie clutched the armrest a bit tighter. She was constantly worried that the car wouldn't see hazards in time and adjust its speed appropriately. As they turned onto State Street, Sophie looked over and asked, "How is the sound system in this thing?" Before they had time to laugh, a landscaping truck towing a trailer cut into their lane - the trailer was so close it looked like it was going to clip the front bumper. The self-driving car abruptly cut the tires to the right, and the car rocketed over a sidewalk and into the front yard of a contemporary home. As Sophie unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door to get out, she noticed that the landscapers had also pulled over and parked. The homeowner had heard the noise too and was coming out to investigate. In a matter of minutes, a small group had converged in the front yard near the car. A quick assessment of the vehicles revealed that no damage had been done to either the self-driving car or the landscaping truck/trailer. The yard, however, was a different story. A number of prized Japanese maples had been turned into mangled piles of sticks, and with the abrupt braking of the self-driving car, about 20 yards of grass and mulch beds had been torn up from the car sliding to a stop. The homeowner sighed and in a snarky voice queried, "Well, who is responsible so that I can be sure to send you my landscaping bill?" Sophie and Meryl looked at the landscapers, hoping they would recognize their reckless lane change and accept responsibility - they spoke, but it was not what they wanted to hear. "I think it is clear who is responsible-it is that newfangled Batmobile of a car that is sitting in the middle of your yard! If they can't make a toaster that won't burn my toast, how can they make a car that drives itself without killing someone? I would hate to pay for that landscaping bill. Based on my experience, this looks like about $2,500 of trees, bushes, and labor." Seeing that the landscapers were trying to push the blame, Meryl decided the best bet would be to call the police and file an incident report. They would sit in the car until the cops arrived and not say another word. They both got in the car and sat down, still shaking from the accident. Sophie looked at Meryl with a concerned expression, and said, "We better not get a ticket. I mean, how could we get a ticket? Neither of us were even driving, technically speaking. How can they give us a ticket for just sitting in the car? On second thought, if this is 'our' fault, who really is to blame? This vehicle is the result of a massive collaborative effort between numerous companies: software developers, hardware developers, analytics and artificial intelligence experts, and so on. Did our car make a bad choice because a sensor failed, or was it an algorithm interpreting the data incorrectly that made the wrong choice?" Meryl looked out the side window and shook her head. She finally said: "I don't know. Let's just talk to the police-maybe they will know whom to blame. If not, maybe we can take them back to the office to help us sort his out." 2. Self-driving cars are continuing to be developed and tested, and experts believe that their widespread adoption and use are inevitable. In the'case of an accident involving a self-driving car, who should be to blame? 3. Do you think the police officer(s) responding to the scene will be able to sort out the liable party? Why or why not? How does this dynamic generalize to other contexts/scenarios in which governments and law enforcement agencies are asked to govern technology and the outcomes stemming from new innovations? 4. Take a few minutes to do an Internet search on the "trolley problem." Imagine that a pedestrian had been in the path of the car's exit route to avoid hitting the landscaping truck/trailer. Also, factor in that the self-driving car determined that braking to avoid the landscaping truck/trailer would not be possible and that a collision would sustain serious damage (with injuries likely). Be prepared to discuss the trolley problem as it relates to self-driving cars and this hypothetical outcome