There’s no doubt that the future looks bright for autonomous vehicles; projections for its commercial deployment vary wildly, from a few years, to not in our lifetime.
While most of the focus is on the technology that enables autonomy, too little attention has been paid to other aspects of driving and our highway system, such as insurance and regulation, and even the willingness of drivers to surrender agency — the ability to control outcome — even if the autonomous system can do better in most instances.
In fact, insurance — and the apportionment of liability — could be one of the most the most serious roadblocks to early adoption of autonomous vehicles. Who would be responsible for damages in the failures of autonomous vehicle: the manufacturer, the driver, the lessor, or even the operator? Fleets would have to worry about liability, as well, because it could be argued that they negligently entrusted a faulty vehicle to its employee.
Now, however, the Germans seem to have come up with a possible solution to the liability issue. In new draft legislation that is being prepared in Germany, the driver will be able to transfer full control (and liability) to the vehicle’s automated system until the system instructs the driver resume control, at which time he or she is once more liable for any outcome.
Under the regulations being developed, vehicles will be required to include black boxes that are capable providing data that can determine the underlying causes of any incident and place responsibility with the driver or the car.
Under the new law, apparently, in the autonomous mode, “the driver may read, write, or watch TV to a certain extent, but having a nap will remain prohibited,” according to Dr. Alexander Duisberg, a partner with the international law firm Bird & Bird.
That would require a brake pedal and steering wheel, so the vehicle would not be truly autonomous in the way that some designers view cars as mobile living rooms or offices.
Still, this notion could be an important stepping stone toward a truly autonomous vehicle.
