The developments of technological systems that can make their own predictions based on input data and machine learning have brought great developments for society. Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are able to predict outcomes based on inputs given. These technologies influenced many different industries when talking about process efficiency, customer relationships, and the improvement of services.
However, according to the Gartner hype cycle (2020), a new type of artificial intelligence is on its rise. This type of AI, referred to as formative AI, can make its own creations and react to dynamic situations. This can be of huge impact on previously identified business processes. And can also increase the way in which ‘fair’ decisions are being made in, for example, jurisprudence.
However, when talking about the legal side of AI, some sidenotes need to be made. Once new technologies are invented, this goes along with new rules and regulations that need to be implemented. For example, looking at liability when things go wrong. In the case of autonomous vehicles, one could state that the driver is responsible when the car is involved in an accident. The driver at least is in the driver position and always has the possibility to intervene. But one could also argue that it is the fault of the programmers who wrote the code for the autonomous vehicle to operate. Which also includes the prevention of accidents. At last, the car manufacturers can be held responsible, since they provided the vehicle. Merachant & Lindor (2012) state that the liability will be in the hand of car manufacturers. Even though the prediction is that these vehicles in the future will contribute to fewer accidents. However, the manufacturers will most likely be held responsible since they have the deepest pockets.
I wonder what you think about this liability when driving autonomous vehicles as of today. Who do you think is responsible and why do you think so?
Gartner 2020, 5 Trends Drive the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, viewed
5 October 2020,
https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/5-trends-drive-the-gartner-hype-cycle-for-emerging-technologies-2020/
Marchant, G. E., & Lindor, R. A. 2012. The coming collision between autonomous
vehicles and the liability system. Santa Clara L. Rev., 52, 1321.
Hi Jeroen, thanks for the interesting article, these controversial topics are always very interesting.
In my opinion the main advantage of autonomous vehicles is that it increases the utility of the driver. Traveling for more than 2 hours back and forth for a 30 minutes meeting is just a waste of time. If the driver would be liable for any accidents or traffic violations, even without causing an accident (crossing the red light, incorrect parking or crossing speed limits) and thus should be aware all the time, there is no need to switch to autonomous driving.
To make self-driving cars more attractive and make more people switch to self-driving cars, which as you mention, will eventually lead to fewer accidents, automotive manufactures should be held liable for any accidents caused by self-driving vehicles. They deliver a machine that does not work how it should and are therefore wrong.
However, if an accident is caused by the victim, he or she might be held liable. In this case the consideration should be if a human driver could have averted this accident, or that it is caused by reckless behavior by the victim. In this case the victim might be held liable. This leads to a whole new discussion about the unpredictable behavior of children et cetera. So this is also not the ideal solution.
Maybe there should some kind of hybrid system about who is liable. On highways and auto ways, which are relatively safe and easy roads for autonomous vehicles the manufacturer is liable. Within urban and rural areas, drivers should be held liable.
This would still stimulate the shift to self-driving cars as the most time within the car is spent on highways.
Of course these are all just suggestions and different laws would probably make this very complex.
However, to stimulate people to buy self-driving cars, which eventually leads to fewer accidents, automotive organizations should be held liable to some extent.
Dear Jeroen,
Thank you for this interesting read. It is true that the legal implications are huge when it comes to new innovations. A lot of stakeholders have to be taken into account and lots of different possibilities should also be considered. To answer to your question, I believe that it really depends on the reason behind the accident. If it is purely technical and that the car checks are in order, I would blame the car manufacturer. However, if its customer did not get the vehicle checked and did not follow the exact rules, he would be the one to blame. Furthermore, even if its autonomous I believe the driver should always keep his eyes on the road In case!