Among examples of semi-autonomous robots are the self-drive cars being pioneered by firms like Google and Tesla. They can be programmed to avoid accidents, but what happens when they're faced with a choice between two accidents? A human being might be able to make a moral decision about which is worst, but a robot doesn't have the same moral apparatus.
And a further moral challenge is created by the development of semi-autonomous weapons systems – for instance, drones that can be programmed to attack particular targets without the need for a human being to issue a specific command. A report on drone warfare by the Joint Public Issues Team of the Church of Scotland, Baptist, Methodist and URC Churches notes the increasing capabilities of technology in this area, but says that "while the robots of the future might be able to demonstrate discretion, the capacity to show empathy or mercy is different altogether and maybe for this reason as much as any other the autonomous operation of weapons systems is a red line that should not be crossed".
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