by "SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
Published 04/13/2017 at 09:00
by "SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
Published 04/13/2017 at 09:00
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STARS: 7
All we hear about these days is how the self-driving and autonomous cars are coming. “Soon, no one will be driving any of the cars on the road!” Not so fast, Chief. I, for one, do not welcome our new robot-car overlords.
The legal issues that will be raised by these cars are many and varied. Do you really think the carmakers can create cars that drive themselves safely while there are still - in recent memory - examples of automakers putting cars on the road they knew would kill people?
Better: What happens when the driverless cars encounter the typical drivered car? When those two vehicles meet in a t-boning incident at an intersection, who will sue who?
I am not saying there never will be driverless cars. I am simply saying that many of the issues that will show up have not been hashed out in the court of public opinion. Or in the court of oppositelock-opinion. So, here we go: The audio:
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And the video:
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Steve Lehto has been practicing law for 25 years, almost exclusively in consumer protection and Michigan lemon law. He wrote The Lemon Law Bible and Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow.
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"TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
04/13/2017 at 09:12, STARS: 2
I think we are about to enter a time where everyone is going to try to blame the manufacturers for everything. Nobody is going to want to accept personal responsibility once their car gains systems that they think are supposed to make it impossible to crash (I am personally of the belief is that you bought the car and thus you are responsible for maintaining it and operating it safely). Hopefully manufacturers are lawyering up because there are going to be a ton of law suits until legal precedent for these new technologies is set.
"Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction" (rustholes-are-weight-reduction)
04/13/2017 at 09:20, STARS: 2
I can’t listen to the audio or check the video right now, but based on the text alone, I can imagine where this is going.
With all the past or ongoing lawsuits regarding faulty airbags, ignitions or transmissions, where the customer relied on an equipment with a more basic function and were let down, how can anyone imagine a manufacturer will release a “real” self driving car, and thus taking responsibility if and when a crash occurs?
Tesla autopilot crashes show the technology isn’t unfailable. And those systems are really just driver assistance plus, if you will. Those systems still require the driver to pay attention, which completely annihilates the point of a self driving car.
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
04/13/2017 at 09:32, STARS: 2
I guess a lot is going to depend on the level of autonomy employed. If there is ANY chance of a manual override, then there’s going to be some serious doubt over who/what caused the crash in question.
I can’t imagine that HAV’s wouldn’t be equipped with some sort of “big red emergency stop button”. I don’t think that a car counts as truly autonomous unless it is 100% capable of driving itself without human supervision. But would there still be a legal requirement for the occupant to “exercise due caution” and be ready to hit the button at all times? And if there are multiple occupants, who would bear that burden, since everyone in the car is a “passenger”?
"Future next gen S2000 owner" (future-next-gen-s2000-owner)
04/13/2017 at 11:01, STARS: 0
I should preface this: My argument involves only self-driving cars. Not semi autonomous. I mean no wheel, no pedals, no means of physical control.
I know I wouldn’t accept responsibility. Assuming I maintained my car and it crashes due to a software issue or glitch or something similar, why should I pay? If I’m on a train and it crashes am I at fault? It seems silly but if you have no direct control over the reason why the car crashed are you really liable?
If the brakes failed because you didn’t change them, that’s on you but that is a separate argument.