Current Team

Maia Bolko

The Automotive Ethics Laboratory works as a close-knit team to study ethical problems encountered by autonomous vehicles. We began by reading Ethics for Robots by Derek Leben, which stimulated a discussion on philosophy and ethical theories. We then built and programmed Raspberry Pi cars to test ethical decision making in varying automotive scenarios. We hope to model and examine different moral approaches to autonomous driving and spark a conversation about the ethics behind the wheel.

 

 

Maia is in her third year of studying Applied Mathematics and Statistics. After her B.S., she will pursue a master’s degree in AMS in Operations Research.

 

 

 

 

 

Roger Cheng 

The Automotive Ethics Lab aims to decode the moral ambiguities that stem from allowing fully autonomous vehicles on public roads. Through modeling and simulation, we strive to accentuate the ethical nuances and challenges of translating human driving into a deterministic algorithm. The lab’s overarching goal is to create a framework for testing real world scenarios. The result will deepen our understanding of automating a nuanced human process and produce tangible research results through dissertations, presentations, and multimedia.

Roger is a senior double majoring in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics in the class of 2023.

 

 

 

 

Mirad Meer 

Our research group has been studying ethics and its implications for the behavior of autonomous vehicles. We have done this research by creating model cars which we have programmed to drive autonomously and behave according to various ethical systems. The cars are then put into scenarios which are designed to test their actions based on their ethical framework. We hope that this will impact the conversation surrounding the programming of autonomous vehicles.

 

Mirad is a Mechanical Engineering Major in the Stony Brook University class of 2023.

 

 

 

 

Amin Shirangi

The Automotive Ethics Laboratory conducts research on ethical aspects of the development and implementation of autonomous vehicles (AV). We recognize that autonomous driving is a complex technical and societal challenge. The long-term goal of the laboratory is to develop an ethical framework for policy makers and AV providers. We are testing our hypotheses with 3D-printed self-driving model cars.


Prior to joining Stony Brook University as a Ph.D. student in the department of Technology and Society, Amin worked as a technical project manager and mechanical engineer for several German companies. He holds a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart.