Driverless cars hold the promise of safer transport. But how should they react when loss of life appears inevitable?

Should a car swerve to miss a pedestrian on the road, even if doing so would kill the passenger? What if it was two people on the road? Or 10 people?

New US research by Science magazine reveals that people generally want automated cars to be utilitarian -- prevent the greatest loss of life -- but when pressed, admit that they would prefer to buy a driverless car that protects the driver at all costs.

Unitec's Professor Hossein Sarrafzadeh said the issue is important but is not the only one surrounding driverless cars.

"We need to decide how much control we give to machines and as machines are used more extensively in our lives this question becomes more central.

"When we use artificial intelligence we are trusting a machine to make decisions for us. Trading shares, driving cars and flying airplanes are examples of such cases."

Associate Professor Ian Yeoman from Victoria University's School of Management said despite the fear surrounding the driverless car, without scientific advancement we would we stuck in the stone age.

"We always fear the future, but without science and advancement we would still be in the cave and the wheel not have been invented."