Generation and Governance of Ethical Risks in Autonomous Driving: A Perspective from Technology as Social Experimentation

The rapid development and on-road deployment of autonomous driving technology has generated a series of ethical risks, compelling society to serve as a laboratory for technological testing. This paper introduces the theoretical perspective of "technology as social experimentation" to construct an analytical framework encompassing the tripartite interactions among technology, policy, and society. By examining risk cases during the societal introduction of autonomous driving, this paper identifies the mechanisms behind risks generated by regulatory lag, commercial misrepresentation, and conflicts in road-access authorization. It further highlights the limitations of existing regulatory sandbox models in addressing real-world challenges and the neglect of ethical concerns in adaptive governance, thereby elucidating the governance advantages of the technology-as-social-experimentation framework. This framework advocates shifting the governance arena from controlled test environments to real-world social settings, establishing a multidimensional evaluation system that incorporates technical indicators and public acceptance, transforming social friction into governance knowledge, and engaging multiple stakeholders to safeguard the rights of technology-affected groups.This theoretical framework not only provides an analytical tool for understanding ethical risks in autonomous driving but also advances the responsible research and application of autonomous driving technology.