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Liability Issues Concerning Self-Driving Vehicles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Melinda Florina Lohmann
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Extract

This article deals with the civil liability issues that arise when self-driving vehicles are admitted to our streets. Firstly, it is explained why strict liability regimes for the vehicle holder, which are in place in several jurisdictions across Europe, are a workable foundation for ensuring compensation of the victim. However, accidents caused by highly automated vehicles will raise the question of the manufacturer's liability for a defective product. Accordingly, this article examines the effects of the circumstance that accidents occurring with self driving cars will no longer be caused by misconduct of the human driver, but often rather by a system malfunction. Thirdly, it is argued that preferably the manufacturer should be the risk bearer and that this shift in liability towards the manufacturer will result in an adequate allocation of liability.

Type
Special Issue on the Man and the Machine
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 335 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016

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References

1 UK Department for Transport, The Pathway to Driverless Cars (London: DfT Publications, 2015), at p. 18.

2 Lutz, Lennart S., “Anforderungen an Fahrerassistenzsysteme nach überstaatlichem Recht”, in Hilgendorf, Eric and Hötitzsch, Sven (eds.), Das Recht vor den Herausforderungen der modernen Technik (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2015), pp. 171 et sqq., at p. 171.Google Scholar

3 Gasser, Tom M., “Legal Issues of Driver Assistance Systems and Autonomous Driving”, in Eskandarian, Azim (ed.), Handbook of Intelligent Vehicles (London: Springer, 2012), pp. 1520 et sqq., at p. 1520.Google Scholar

4 UK Department for Transport, Pathway, supra note 1, at p. 14.

5 UK Department for Transport, Pathway, supra note 1, at p. 13.

6 For an analysis of the use of anthropological vocabulary in regard to machines: Müller, Melinda Florina, “Von vermenschlichten Maschinen und maschinisierten Menschen”, in Sandra Brändli/Rehana Harasgama/Roman Schister/Aurelia Tamò (eds.), Mensch und Maschine – Symbiose oder Parasitismus (Bern: Stämpfli Verlag, 2015), pp. 595 et sqq.Google Scholar

7 Mark Harris, “Researcher Hacks Self-driving Car Sensors”, 4 September 2015, available on the Internet at <http://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/self-driving/researcher-hacks-selfdriving-car-sensors?utm_campaign=Weekly%20Notification-%20IEEE%20Spectrum%20Tech%20Alert&utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=email&#x0026;utm_content=&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiJjNDRhMWZlOS1hNmNhLTQ1NmItODg4YS03M2Q1NDk3Y2RhZmMifQ%3D%3D (last accessed on 7 October 2015).

8 Karnow, Curtis E.A., “Liability for Distributed Artificial Intelligences”, 11 Berkeley Tech. L.J. (1996), pp. 147 et sqq., pp. 162 et sqq.Google Scholar

9 Marchant, Gary E. and Lindor, Rachel A., “The Coming Collision between Autonomous Vehicles and the Liability System”, 52 Santa Clara L. Rev. (2012), pp. 1321 et sqq., at p. 1335;Google Scholar Boeglin, Jack, “The Costs of Self–Driving Cars”, 17 Yale J.L. & Tech. (2015), pp. 171 et sqq., at p. 188;Google Scholar Robolaw, “Regulating Emerging Robotic Technologies in Europe, Guidelines on Regulating Robotics”, 22 September 2014, available on the Internet at <http://www.robolaw.eu/RoboLaw_files/documents/robolaw_d6.2_guidelinesregulatingrobotics_20140922.pdf (last accessed on 7 October 2015), at p. 58.

10 On criminal responsibility: Lohmann/Arnold Rusch, Melinda Florina, “Fahrassistenzsysteme und selbstfahrende Fahrzeuge im Lichte von Haftpflicht und Versicherung”, 4 HAVE (2015), pp. 349 et sqq., p. 350.Google Scholar

11 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1528; see overview in Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 64.

12 So called “Halter” under Swiss and German law, see Art. 58 para. 1 of the Swiss Road Traffic Act, § 7 para. 1 of the German Road Traffic Act.

13 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1529.

14 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1529.

15 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1529.

16 This is the case under Swiss law (Art. 41 para. 1 of the Swiss Code of Obligations). In the UK, the liability of the driver is fault-based; in Sweden the costs of traffic accidents are rather covered by first party insurance (Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 64). In Germany the driver is assumed to be at fault, unless he can prove otherwise (Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1529).

17 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1529.

18 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1529.

19 Pagallo, Ugo, “Guns, Ships, and Chauffeurs: The Civilian Use of UV Technology and its Impact on Legal Systems”, 21 J.L. Inf. & Sci. (2011), pp. 224 et sqq., at p. 231.Google Scholar

20 Pagallo, Guns, supra note 19, pp. 231 et sqq.; Müller, Melinda Florina, “Roboter und Recht: Eine Einführung”, 5 Aktuelle Juristische Praxis (2014), pp. 595 et sqq., pp. 598 et sqq.; Boeglin, Costs, supra note 9, at p. 175.Google Scholar

21 See e.g. Art. 65 para. 1 of the Swiss Road Traffic Act.

22 He may however have first party insurance (Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 66).

23 Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1326; Ronald Leenes and Federica Lucivero, “Laws on Robots, Laws by Robots, Laws in Robots: Regulating Robot Behaviour by Design”, 6(2) LIT (2014), pp. 193 et sqq., at p. 207; Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 58.

24 Boeglin, Costs, supra note 9, at p. 185; Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1328.

25 Ryan Calo, M., “Open Robotics”, 70 Md. L. Rev. (2011), pp. 571 et sqq., at p. 597.Google Scholar

26 The seller of the vehicle may be liable for defects under contract law.

27 Switzerland has implemented the Directive with its Product Liability Act.

28 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1532.

29 Wolf Günther, „Nutzungsrechte und Haftungsvermeidung”, 8 Elektronik automotive (2006), pp. 52 et sqq., at p. 52; see Karnow, Liability, supra note 8, at p. 162.

30 See Wu, Stephen S., “Product Liability Issues in the U.S. and Associated Risk Management”, in Maurer, Markus and Christian Gerdes, J. and Lenz, Barbara and Winner, Hermann (eds.), Autonomes Fahren (Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, 2015), pp. 575 et sqq., at p. 589.Google Scholar

31 Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1333.

32 Pagallo, Guns, supra note 19, at p. 231.

33 Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1334.

34 Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1339.

35 Best, Arthur and Barnes, David W. and Kahn–Fogel, Nicholas, Basic Tort Law, 4th ed. (New York: Wolters Kluwer, 2014), at p. 8;Google Scholar Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 55.

36 Lohmann and Rusch, Fahrerassistenzsysteme, supra note 10, at p. 352.

37 Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 63.

38 Lohmann and Rusch, Fahrerassistenzsysteme, supra note 10, at pp. 352.

39 Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1340.

40 Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 63.

41 See Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1336.

42 Leenes and Lucivero, Laws, supra note 23, at p. 207; Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 56; Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1334. 43 Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 59.

44 Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 58.

45 Marchant and Lindor, Collision, supra note 9, at p. 1334.

46 I.e., one's own insurance company pays one's own damages (Leenes and Lucivero, Laws, supra note 23, at p. 207).

47 Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 64.

48 Leenes and Lucivero, Laws, supra note 23, at p. 207; Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 65.

49 On the other hand, higher insurance premiums may somewhat fulfil this purpose (Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 65).

50 On the other hand, legal expenses will also be reduced, Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 65.

51 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, at p. 1529.

52 Müller, Roboter, supra note 20, pp. 605 et sqq.

53 Gasser, Legal Issues, supra note 3, pp. 1532 et sqq.

54 UK Department for Transport, Pathway, supra note 1, at p. 6.

55 Robolaw, Guidelines, supra note 9, at p. 63.