Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 16-5 (2016) · Public Health, Safety, and Welfare—Driverless/Autonomous Vehicle
Professional obligations conflict, and the board applies no fixed rule for which one wins.
Each resolution is recorded as three edges:
competesWith (the tension),
prevailsOver (the obligation the board allowed to win in this case), and
defeasibleUnder (the situation under which the yielding obligation gives way).
The same tension is then traced across comparable cases, where its resolution shifts with context.
Hover any obligation or state to see its definition; click to open it in OntServe.
How this case resolved it
Featured
Engineer A AV Risk Assessment Third-Party Safety Consideration Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A AV Faithful Agent Informed Decision Enablement Obligation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Competing Duties — Passenger Safety vs. Aggregate Harm Minimization
- Engineer A Ethical Dilemma — Harm Allocation Recommendation
- Passenger Safety vs. Third-Party Harm Minimization Algorithm Conflict
- Present Case Regulatory Standards Vacuum for Autonomous Vehicle Ethics
- Public Safety at Risk — Autonomous Vehicle Third-Party Harm
Engineer A Autonomous Vehicle Further Study Recommendation Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A AV Faithful Agent Informed Decision Enablement Obligation
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Competing Duties — Passenger Safety vs. Aggregate Harm Minimization
- Engineer A Ethical Dilemma — Harm Allocation Recommendation
- Passenger Safety vs. Third-Party Harm Minimization Algorithm Conflict
- Present Case Regulatory Standards Vacuum for Autonomous Vehicle Ethics
- Public Safety at Risk — Autonomous Vehicle Third-Party Harm
Engineer A AV Risk Assessment Third-Party Safety Consideration Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A AV Risk Assessment Team Harm Minimization Participation Obligation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Autonomous Vehicle Ethics Regulatory Standards Vacuum
- Passenger Safety vs. Third-Party Harm Minimization Algorithm Conflict
Engineer A AV Moral Framework Public Transparency Recommendation Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A AV Faithful Agent Informed Decision Enablement Obligation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Competing Duties — Passenger Safety vs. Aggregate Harm Minimization
- Engineer A Ethical Dilemma — Harm Allocation Recommendation
- Passenger Safety vs. Third-Party Harm Minimization Algorithm Conflict
- Present Case Regulatory Standards Vacuum for Autonomous Vehicle Ethics
- Public Safety at Risk — Autonomous Vehicle Third-Party Harm
Engineer A AV Further Study Recommendation Before Deployment Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A AV Faithful Agent Informed Decision Enablement Obligation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Competing Duties — Passenger Safety vs. Aggregate Harm Minimization
- Engineer A Ethical Dilemma — Harm Allocation Recommendation
- Passenger Safety vs. Third-Party Harm Minimization Algorithm Conflict
- Present Case Regulatory Standards Vacuum for Autonomous Vehicle Ethics
- Public Safety at Risk — Autonomous Vehicle Third-Party Harm
Engineer A BER 96-4 Additional Testing Recommendation Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A BER 96-4 Business Pressure Non-Subordination Obligation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- BER Case 96-4 Multi-Factor Business-Safety Balancing
- BER Case 96-4 Public Safety at Risk from Safety-Critical Software
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Engineer A AV Faithful Agent Informed Decision Enablement Obligation vs Engineer A Autonomous Vehicle Do No Harm Obligation
Engineer A AV Moral Framework Public Transparency Recommendation Obligation vs Engineer A AV Risk Assessment Team Harm Minimization Participation Obligation
What the board concluded
- That being said, to address the specific question posed in the case, Engineer A has an obligation to state that the prime ethical obligation of the vehicle operation is to minimize harm to affect the least number of persons.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
A faithful-agent duty yields to a public-protection obligation. The yielding obligation ("Faithful Agent") recurs across cases; the obligation that overrides it and the context under which it yields differ case by case. This is the case-law move: not a single rule, but a family of context-indexed resolutions.
| Case | Obligation that prevailed | Yielding obligation | Context (defeasibleUnder) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
24-01
Balancing Client Directives and Public...
|
Engineer L Client Budget Pressure Refusal | Engineer L Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer L Confirmed Risk Without Safeguards; Engineer L Resource Constrained Client |
| Engineer L Client Override Regulatory Report | Engineer L Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer L Confirmed Risk Without Safeguards; Engineer L Resource Constrained Client | |
|
20-4
Public Health, Safety, and...
|
Engineer B Post-Override Regulatory Reporting | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | MWC Override of Engineers A and B |
| Engineer A Post-Override Regulatory Reporting | Engineer A Faithful Agent Boundary | MWC Override of Engineers A and B | |
|
95-5
Failure To Include Information In...
|
Engineer B Expert Witness Neutrality | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer B Adversarial Engagement; Engineer B Client Defense Bias |
| Engineer B Complete Technical Reporting | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer B Adversarial Engagement; Engineer B Client Defense Bias | |
|
04-8
Public Welfare—Client Action Following...
|
Engineer A Safety Obligation Wetland Fill | Engineer A Faithful Agent Limits Wetland | Engineer A Confirmed Environmental Risk; Engineer A Faithful Agent Duty Conflict |
| Engineer A Wetland Confidentiality Limits | Engineer A Faithful Agent Limits Wetland | Engineer A Confirmed Environmental Risk; Engineer A Faithful Agent Duty Conflict |