🇪🇺 Dilema Ético do Carro Autônomo

Response: **Analysis of Autonomous Vehicle Decision-Making under the EU AI Act and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights** --- ### 1. Context and Legal Framework #### 1.1 The EU AI Act and High-Risk AI Systems The EU AI Act, proposed by the European Commission in April 2021, aims to regulate AI systems based on risk categories. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are classified as **high-risk AI systems** under **Annex II, Section 7** of the draft AI Act, due to their potential impact on safety and fundamental rights. Key obligations for high-risk AI systems include: - **Risk management** (Article 9): Providers must identify and mitigate risks related to safety and fundamental rights. - **Transparency and accountability** (Articles 13-15): Systems must be designed to ensure traceability and human oversight. - **Data governance** (Article 10): Training data must be relevant, representative, and free from bias. The Act does **not explicitly prescribe** how ethical dilemmas, such as life-and-death decisions, should be resolved by AI. However, it mandates compliance with fundamental rights under the **EU Charter of Fundamental Rights** and other applicable laws. #### 1.2 The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights Article 1 of the Charter states: *“Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected.”* Article 2 guarantees the *right to life*. Importantly, the Charter enshrines **equal dignity and rights for all human beings**, without discrimination based on age, gender, or other status (Article 21). This implies that **all human lives have equal value under EU law**, and any decision-making system that explicitly prioritizes one life over another based on protected characteristics (such as age) risks violating the Charter. --- ### 2. The Ethical Dilemma: Passenger vs. Multiple Pedestrians The scenario involves an AV needing to choose between: - Protecting a single passenger (age 30), or - Swerving to avoid hitting 5 elderly pedestrians, potentially sacrificing the passe