Autonomous vehicles implementation in Lebanon: Opportunities, challenges, and ethical decisions

Civil Engineering Department, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik - Usek, Lebanon

Abstract

The Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology allows people to travel without intervening. The quick progress in this technology and the efforts of manufacturers companies to reach fully Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) using artificial intelligent, forecast a bright future. Researches have estimated that on average, one passenger in a vehicle traveling one kilometer in Lebanon costs about $ 48, including externality components of crashes, travel time, congestion and pollution. Thus, the main purpose of this research is to highlight the opportunities of implementing AVs in Lebanon, such as reduction in traffic accidents and congestion, improvement of accessibility, human health, economic and social life. Moreover, this paper highlight the barriers standing in front of implementing this technology, like the missing of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and the funds needed for its execution, and gives some policy recommendations. Finally, the authors present their statistics conducted in Lebanon about ethical decisions that AVs should take particularly in case of a crash in different scenarios through the participants’ responses.