Who’s to blame when driverless cars have an accident?

The news that an Uber self-driving vehicle has killed a pedestrian in the US has made headlines around the world.

Autonomous vehicles are information-rich platforms
thanks to the range of sensors on board that track,
monitor and measure everything.

It’s a reminder that the era of self-driving cars is fast approaching. Decades of research into advanced sensors, mapping, navigation and control methods have now come to fruition and autonomous cars are starting to hit the roads in pilot trials.

But partial or full autonomy raises the question of who is to blame in the case of an accident involving a self-driving car? In conventional (human-driven) cars, the answer is simple: the driver is responsible because they are in control. When it comes to autonomous vehicles, it isn’t so clear cut.

Read the CSIRO blog - “Who’s to blame when driverless cars have an accident?”

(We managed to resolve the legal intricacies surrounding the activities, and accidents, involving millions privately owned, individually driven cars and so a self-driving vehicle should not be too complex, just different - Robert McLean)

Buckle Up: Here Come Self-Driving Vehicles!

(Personally, privately owned motor vehicles, self-driving or otherwise, are offensive to those of us eager to slow human-induced climate change, but there is hope that the self-driving privately owned car will be little more than a transition to a public transport system based on self-driving pod-like vehicles that service the needs of communities through smart phone apps – Robert McLean)

For nearly a month, Uber has offered Pittsburgh residents the chance to catch a ride in a self-driving vehicle.

The high-tech taxis are among a variety of semi-autonomous vehicles already on the road. Of course, the technology isn’t perfect: one of the Pittsburgh Ubers was recently caught on video going the wrong way down a one-way street. More seriously, earlier this year, the driver of a Telsa S was killed in a crash while his car was in autopilot mode.

While any fatality is regrettable, Joyce Pressley, an automotive safety researcher and associate professor of Epidemiology, believes driver-assisted technologies have enormous potential to save lives. In fact, she says, there is early evidence that such technology has improved safety.

Visions of driverless motoring go back decades. At the 1939 World’s Fair, General Motors delighted visitors with a diorama of a highway system with cars directed by electromagnetic currents embedded in the roadway. While there are few truly autonomous cars on the road today, many vehicles already offer aspects of the self-driving technology. Collision avoidance systems, which can take control of steering and braking, have been shown by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to be associated with reductions in property loss.

Read the story from the Mailman School of Public Health - “Buckle Up: Here Come Self-Driving Vehicles!”