Autonomous Ferries and Cargo Ships: Discovering Ethical Issues via a Challenge-Based Learning Approach in Higher Education

The ethics of autonomous vehicles continue to be discussed at length in both academia and with the general public. Even though on the level of principles, there is ample fruitful discourse, what is often missing is a discussion targeted at implementation specific ethical challenges. However, outcomes of these discussions could guide developers and stakeholders in advancing towards a thoroughly responsible design of these autonomous and intelligent systems. This contribution reports on the investigation of the ethics of autonomous, zero emission ferries and cargo ships in such a practical way, carried out via engaging university students with the issue during a challenge-based learning engineering ethics course at the University of Lübeck. Within this course, a three-way discourse has unfolded between student groups, supervisors and Unleash Future Boats, a company active in the field of autonomous, hydrogen-powered ferries and cargo ships. Not only do we present a framework for teaching engineering ethics that strives to equip future engineers with a working knowledge and methodology to use ethics as a productive and integrated tool for decision-making during business and engineering development. We also share preliminary insights into relevant and specific ethical challenges to be met when implementing autonomous ferries and cargo ships for inland navigation.