With the ever-evolving technology, a few innovations that have taken the world by storm are autonomous vehicles.
Automatic cars are one of the advancements that offer adaptive cruise control and automated parking assistance. As the technology got better the capabilities of these vehicles also got better. Now, it does not stop at the engineering challenges, it also gets a lot more difficult to deal with the legal side of things with AV.
Now, with the passing of time, a lot of cities around the globe are hosting trials of such cars already. A personal injury lawyer in Houston can help you with the trials regarding this matter.
Liability with Automation
With the increase in the number of automatic vehicles, traditional liability policies will be taking a real shift. Given that human error has historically been a major cause of traffic accidents, drivers have traditionally received all of the blame. Determining guilt, however, is a more problematic issue with self-driving automobiles.
Who is to Blame?
In cases, where the technology is taking all the control, who is to blame then? Is blaming the driver okay if things get out of hand or what if an automatic vehicle fails to stop at a stop sign?
Now, these questions when arise make it difficult for everyone to decide who is actually responsible for all of this. So, to say that traditional methods of liability will be taking a huge shift is not wrong at all.
Manufacturers, Software Companies, or the Operator?
Now when complex technology is involved in automated vehicles, there are a number of accused parties that are to be blamed in the case of an accident. Now, if there is a crash reported due to some glitch in the software, is it the software company to be blamed? And in case of a malfunction of a sensor, the manufacturer of the hardware is to blame.
Furthermore, if a third party is involved in the installation of one of the systems, then that party is to blame for that.
Changes in the Insurance Policy
Insurance companies are having trouble figuring out how to update policies to reflect the fact that driving is increasingly being done by technology rather than by humans.
When it comes to insurance policies, the premiums are usually defined by the risk profile of the driver, which includes age, driving history, and other personal characteristics. The focus now is shifting more toward the vehicle’s technology, software reliability, and potential vulnerabilities with the advancement of autonomous vehicles.
To understand that better, the manufacturers are trying their best to collaborate with the manufacturers of the automated cars. This is being done in order to comprehend the technological complexities that help in assessing the risk better.
Complications in Coverage with Automated Vehicles
When accidents that happen involve autonomous vehicles, knowing the fault and the coverage can get really difficult. For example, if an accident occurs due to failure in the software, will it be classified under a traditional auto insurance claim or will it be a product liability claim made to the software-providing company?
Also, with autonomous vehicles’ collection of data and information, the chances of this data being used to decode the accident scenarios. This will help the policyholders a lot with their concerns.
Autonomous Vehicles and Laws
The disclosure of autonomous vehicles not only represents the technological innovation part but also a legal challenge. As these grow in number, the governments in different regions are working to ensure safety without impacting the new innovation.
The Present Situation
In many states and regions, the government is the one generally setting the transporting and safety regulations. There are a number of guidelines being set, but are not for sure to be followed by everyone but they do offer a framework for AV testing and further development.
The Society of Automotive Engineers has defined levels of automation from 0 to 5. 0 being no automation and 5 as full automation. These levels are considered benchmarks for the regulation, and determine when and how automotive vehicles operate without human intervention.
Also, with the advent of autonomous vehicles, the collection of great amounts of data is a big concern about who owns the data and how long it is stored, the use specifically after the accident.
New Proposed Laws
With the maturity of technology, there is for sure a need for concrete safety standards that are specific to autonomous vehicles.
This can include the requirements for;
- Cybersecurity systems
- Fail-safes
- Redundancy systems
One of the recommendations under consideration in a number of jurisdictions is a shift from traditional insurance to liability insurance of manufacturers. This will be done in order to show the fault of the car is more related to the fault in the product rather than behavior, as it is in the case of humans.
Conclusion
The legal advancement when it comes to automatic vehicles is still a work in process. As industry and lawmakers get the hold of automatic cars, there is great expectation from legal schools in the coming years.
