Who pays the fine if the autonomous car commits a violation?

The association of autonomous vehicles with traditional and with other road users, creating new situations, sometimes without any regulation that allows the authorities to make decisions.

on California For example, you cannot punish anyone once a driverless car commits an offence. The San Francisco police chief assured that with the legal framework that currently exists in the state, the only thing he can do is impose parking tickets which goes to the company that owns the car.

In San Francisco, they go intended for Cruise that since 2021 there is, or rather, there is permission for it autonomous robotaxis They will perform passenger transportation tasks. For several weeks, it has not operated in any market with unmanned taxis, after several incidents caused by this type of vehicle.

Latest, an accident in strange circumstances, led to Cruise’s ‘voluntary’ suspension of service. A fact where its CEO also resigned a few weeks ago.

The truth is, therefore, that if the car makes all the decisions, in California it is not possible to punish anyone except for illegal parking. And the truth is that the way these vehicles are programmed, it is almost impossible for this to happen.

There, with the law in hand, they are immune of traffic fines, something that needs to be regulated for the future, especially considering that Cruise will continue to work to regain the authorization to provide its services and there are many other companies interested in doing so .

Tesla, for example, has faced and is facing legal battles for this Autopilot autonomous driving system with favorable results in some cases when alleging a ‘driver’ is human error. Let’s remember that the technology of Elon Musk’s cars still focuses on its fine print on the responsibility of whoever occupies the main seat in the event of an accident.

Although we know of a case in Florida where the judge ruled in favor of the car owner, when it was shown that Tesla knows some of those failures which affects your ‘hands-free’ technology.

Not all countries and states in North America are in this situation, ever Texas since 2017 makes responsible in the performances of an autonomous car To the owner the same, even if it was not inside the vehicle at the time of the incident or violation.

It can be a reference for the rest of the world, although there will undoubtedly be legal problems in the future regarding this matter. In addition, with how slow the processes are to approve laws, which often come too late for a technology that is advancing in leaps and bounds.

Source: nationworldnews.com