The application of artificial intelligence (AI) has expanded into sports, transport, and other aspects of daily life. AI is already considered superior to human intelligence in certain fields, an example being Google’s AlphaGo. There is eager anticipation for advancements in AI technology, but there is also growing anxiety and concern over how AI will make decisions and process information as the level of autonomy increases and human intervention decreases.
Some argue that in the case of self-driving cars, which are expected to be commercialized next year, decisions made by AI in ethical dilemmas, such as choosing between a single driver or multiple pedestrians in the event of an unavoidable motor vehicle accident, will determine where the responsibility lies between developers and users and act as the biggest obstacle to the commercialization of self-driving cars.
Such ethical decisions are made by AI in accordance with an algorithm based on pre-programmed ethical standards. Accordingly, the United States, Germany, and other forerunners of the commercialization of self-driving cars are rushing to formulate ethical standards or development guidelines for self-driving cars.
Accordingly, this Amendment facilitates the commercialization of self-driving cars by prescribing the formulation of ethical design standards for self-driving cars based on ethical principles that prioritize life and safety. It prescribes the promotion/training on these standards so that they may be widely applied to the design and manufacture of self-driving cars, thereby aiming to ensure leadership in the automotive industry, a future core industry (Article 4-2 and Article 24, paragraph 1, subparagraph 3 newly inserted).

Ethical design standards for self-driving cars (Article 4-2)