The operation of automated and autonomous vehicles will be dealt with by the newly established Ethic21/4/2020|Press releasesThe Ministry of Transport, which is actively developing the area of autonomous mobility, has decided to set up an Ethics Committee to assess issues related to the operation of automated and autonomous vehicles in the Czech Republic. Its goal is to comprehensively assess the issues of ethics and related topics in the field of automated and autonomous vehicles in the Czech Republic. David Černý is the chairman of the committee and the leading experts in the field of ethics, law, social sciences, artificial intelligence and technical fields are the other twelve members. The main areas that the Ethics Committee will deal with are e.g. human-machine interaction, the issue of artificial intelligence behaviour in the event of accidents, the availability and security of shared data or the issue of responsibility for the software used and for the infrastructure in the Czech Republic. By the end of 2020, the Ethics Committee will prepare recommendations and proposals for measures that will lead to smooth implementation of autonomous vehicles into normal traffic. A very important and discussed topic is for example the interaction of road and rail vehicles. The expert conclusions of the committee will thus affect not only the area of road transport, but also other kinds of transport, and the Ministry of Transport will be able to use them in a wider context. The area of ethics is an integral part of the topic of autonomous driving, which has the potential to make a positive contribution to the safety and accessibility of transportation. Setting up the Ethics Committee is in line with strategic materials, such as the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in the Czech Republic and the Memorandum on the Future of the Automotive Industry in the Czech Republic. Ethics is also addressed at the European level – the ethics of artificial intelligence and autonomous driving will be one of the three key points of the meeting which will take place in autumn this year with the participation of EU ministers and representatives of the European Commission. Members of the Ethics Committee: Chairman: PhDr. David Černý, Ph.D. – Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences Vice-Chairman: Mgr. et Mgr. Petr Zámečník – Transport Research Centre Members: Mgr. Monika Mareková, M.Jur. (Oxon) – CMS JUDr. Adam Doležal, LL.M. – Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences doc. JUDr. Tomáš Doležal, Ph.D., LL.M. – Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences Ing. Martin Hron – TÜV SÜD Czech PhDr. Tomáš Hříbek, Ph.D. – Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences Mgr. Juraj Hvorecký, Ph.D. – Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences Ing. Tomáš Ječný – Škoda Auto Ing. Václav Jirovský, Ph.D. – Faculty of Transportation Sciences, Czech Technical University in Prague Daniel D. Novotný, Ph.D. – Faculty of Theology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice Ing. et Ing. Václav Uhlíř – Faculty of Information Technology, Brno University of Technology prof. RNDr. Jiří Wiedermann, DrSc. – Institute of Computer Science of the Czech Academy of Sciences