Is A.I. at Fault When a Self-Driving Car Has a Collision?
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The Cassidy-Shaw family is on their way to a lacrosse tournament. High school senior and lacrosse super-star, Charlie, is the driver. His dad, Noah Cassidy, is riding shotgun. His mother and two sisters are in the back. Lorelei Shaw is the mom. Alice is the older sister and Izzy is the younger.
It’s a bit of a misnomer to say Charlie is the driver since the car the family owns is a SensTrek minivan and they are using it in hands-free mode. Thus Charlie is only monitoring the progress of the trip. Beside him, Noah – who is an attorney – is dealing with a case by drafting an email on his laptop as they drive.
This is the scenario when Alice shouts from the back seat, “CHARLIE, STOP!” As Charlie responds and clutches the wheel, there is an impact and an explosion as the car and the family flip once and then a second time.
As readers will find by reading the book, all five members of the Cassidy-Shaw family have reason to believe they have culpability for the accident. And since two people in the car with which they collided were killed, there’s a lot of guilt to carry.
These are the human aspects to the novel. But there are also technological ones. Is AI responsible for the wreck? It certainly is a sixth witness in the car as it “recorded speed, relative positions of the vehicles involved, in-cabin movements, driver reactions, etc.”
The whole AI element rises to a higher level because Lorelei Shaw has a doctorate in the ethics of artificial intelligence. A book she wrote is quoted throughout the novel. The book is called, Silicon Souls: On the Culpability of Artificial Minds.
As a quote from her book we read about “a common dilemma for ethical input in AI systems:”
“These technologies require designers and engineers to account for an infinite number of scenarios with profound moral consequence…Whether to spare a pregnant mother obeying the traffic rules or the teenage pedestrian jaywalking at the same crossing. The abstract discussion of such harrowing scenarios is one thing. Actually coding them into the algorithm of a three-ton sports utility vehicle is quite another.”
Beyond all this, there are several other things for the reader to follow and worry about. We have Lorelei’s pre-existing medical condition, the status of Charlie’s lacrosse scholarship to North Carolina, and Alice’s addiction to her cell phone.
Clearly, there is a lot packed into this novel all of which made it very hard for me to put down!
I should mention that Culpability was Oprah’s choice for her book club in July, 2025.
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Click here to learn more about Culpability on Amazon.
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