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Who Is Responsible When An Autonomous driving Causes An Accident?

 

In 2016, an autonomous driving that was developed by “Google”company caused a minor collision with a bus. In this case, when an “autonomous vehicle” causes an accident, who would be responsible for it?

When a car was operated manually, it was straightforward to determine who was responsible for the accident since human controlled the driving.

However, if an “autonomous driving” causes an accident, it would be very difficult to define either the driver or the car manufacturer should take the responsibility.

This article will discuss with regard to “Responsibility” as well as “Insurance” when an “autonomous vehicle” cases an accident.

Either Car Manufacturers or Drivers Should Take Responsibility

 

You have purchased an “autonomous vehicle” because it has a self-driving function, but if the car causes an accident during self-driving, could you convince yourself to take the responsibility for the accident?

As stated in the article entitled “ If Autonomous drivinf Is Implemented, Drinking In The Car Will Be Possible?”, the driver has the responsibility for any accidents of up to Level 3.

In other words, the driver cannot be accused of taking the responsibility for any accidents of Level 4 or above, but accidents of up to Level 3 would be the driver’s responsibility.

Please refer to the related article below for information of Level of Self-Driving.

 

■related article■

Number Of Accidents Of Self-Driving Is Small

 

In the beginning of this article, “Google”company indicates that the autonomous vehicle under their development has caused a bus accident, but the accident rate of autonomous vehicles is in fact extremely low. According to a certain report, less than 20 which is an extremely small number has been reported during two years from 2014 to 2016.

There are still however, some unclear parts of the law regarding liability for the accidents, and it is a concerning point.  

When An Accident Occured, Coverage Of Insurance Will Be Applied To Whom

With regard to coverage of the insurance after the accident, it has not been defined who would be covered yet.

It is a self-evident that the insurance coverage is applied to drivers when they cause accidents until now. However, this fact will change as from now.

When the accident becomes more than level 4, “Product liability”would be involved, and the driver is no longer responsible for it. The manufacturer

(Maker) would be however, accused of taking the responsibility for the accident.

Therefore, there is still a lot of controversy in self-driving, and it will take some time to become common in the world.