Keynote Presentations:

Speaker: Dr. Chandra Bhat

Title: Behaviorally Grounded Ethics for Autonomous Mobility and Access to Activities

Abstract: The integration of autonomous vehicles (AVs) into modern transportation systems raises profound ethical, behavioral, and societal questions. At the forefront of this dialogue is the challenge of embedding ethical reasoning into AV decision-making, particularly when faced with trade-offs involving safety, fairness, access to activities, and individual freedom. While popular discussions often focus on moral dilemmas such as the “trolley problem,” a more impactful ethical inquiry centers on systemic issues—who benefits, who are at risk of being left behind, and how AV deployment reshapes mobility and activity access patterns. In this presentation, we will discuss the importance of understanding individual activity-travel behavior for ethically informed AV design and policy, emphasizing the heterogeneity of preferences across population groups, and underscoring the need for AV systems and infrastructure investments to recognize diverse mobility and activity access needs. In this regard, the abstract moral frameworks that dominate AV ethics debates must evolve to include theoretically and empirically grounded insights on how people actually make activity-travel decisions, and how those decisions interact with infrastructure, pricing, and policy. Bridging this gap between normative ethics and activity-travel behavioral science is essential to ensure that AVs promote not just technological efficiency, but also social good.

Speaker: Dr. Noah Goodall (Virgina DOT)

Title: How to Talk to Engineers about Autonomous Vehicle Ethics

Abstract: Engineers building autonomous vehicles often dismiss ethical discussions as impractical philosophical exercises, particularly when confronted with trolley problem scenarios. Yet all driving introduces risk, and decisions about how to distribute this risk among road users have clear ethical components that cannot be ignored. This talk draws on my experiences from the early days of automated vehicle research, when engineers, philosophers, sociologists, and legal scholars first collaborated on this emerging technology under intense media scrutiny. Based on these experiences—and the frequent communication failures I witnessed —I argue for a strategic reframing of automated vehicle ethics using risk management principles that engineers already understand and value. Rather than starting with hypothetical crash dilemmas, I demonstrate how routine driving decisions about lane positioning, following distances, and headway selection involve probabilistic risk distribution with obvious moral implications. This risk-centered approach provides transparent, quantifiable frameworks for ethical decision-making while speaking the language of trade-offs and optimization that engineers find familiar and actionable. This approach is crucial for engaging rather than repelling the engineers who, in the absence of legislation, are ultimately the ones embedding moral decisions into their software.

Awards for Selected Early Scholar Abstracts

Selected early scholar (Master’s student, PhD student, or post-doc) abstract submissions will be selected for a travel assistance award of either $200 (eligible to those with a U.S. bank account) or two-nights stay at the Aloft Raleigh (a value of ~$378), across the street from the iconic NC State Memorial Belltower and the Gregg Museum of Art & Design (free admission). If you would like to be considered for a travel assistance award, please mention this in your abstract submission email. 

The editorial board requests extended abstracts of roughly 500 words, due on August 30, 2025.

Accommodations

The Aloft Raleigh, which is within easy walking distance of NC State University’s North Campus, has reserved a small block of rooms for conference participants at the discounted rate of $189 per night, book before the cutoff date September 18, 2025 in order to receive this special rate. Click here to reserve a room.

Stay tuned for further announcements, such as schedule, venue and parking details!