Tackling the social dilemma of autonomous vehicles using social norms

When facing moral dilemmas, how should the algorithms of autonomous vehicles (AVs) be programmed? Past studies have documented that people endorsed AVs that minimize casualties (utilitarian AVs), but preferred to purchase AVs that protect passengers at all costs (egoistic AVs). This creates a social dilemma such that if the majority of AVs are programmed to prioritize protecting the passengers, there would be more casualties on the road. This study thus investigates what can be done to tackle this social dilemma. We drew from the literature on social norms and conducted three studies (total N = 1430) to examine the possibility of reducing people’s purchase intention of egoistic AVs through descriptive and injunctive norms. Study 1 examined the effect of presenting either supportive descriptive or injunctive norms. Studies 2a and 2b scrutinized people’s purchase intention of egoistic AVs when descriptive and injunctive norms are aligned or misaligned. Overall, we found that injunctive norms (but not descriptive norms) can reduce people’s purchase intention of egoistic AVs. Our findings provide valuable insights into future AV policies and contribute to the literature on social norms by delineating how aligned and misaligned social norms can affect behavioral intentions.