Egocentric, Altruistic, or Hypocritic?: A Cross-Cultural Study of Choice Between Pedestrian-First and Driver-First of Autonomous Car

How should the autonomous car behave when faced with an unavoidable fatal accident? The answer may vary depending on the perspective from which the choice is made. If people answer this question as a driver, choosing a car that prioritizes the driver’s safety looks egocentric, and choosing a car that prioritizes pedestrians’ safety looks altruistic. On the other hand, if people’s attitudes change depending on whether one’s choice is visible to others, this time that looks hypocritic if they tend to choose the pedestrian-first car when others can see the choice. At the same time, these answers may also vary culturally. However, if there are such cultural differences, that should affect the policies of governments, lawmakers, car manufacturers, and marketers. To investigate people’s safety preference from the driver’s perspective and their possible hypocritic tendencies, together with its possible cultural variance, this study conducted a survey ( ${N}$ = 683) with Japanese, Chinese, and American participants. The result indicated some interesting and unexpected cultural differences in their answers, which should provide valuable new data for future discussions on the issues surrounding autonomous cars.