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ICT Law: The Rise of Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous cars and connected vehicles. Autonomy represents the next automotive revolution of the coming decade, a market expected to reach over $40 billion by 2025.
In Germany, Audi launched the A8 equipped with an autonomous driving system for highways and roads separated by a central reservation, despite violations of the Vienna Convention, recently amended to accommodate autonomous vehicles.
Announced last March, France aims to have the legislative framework in place by 2019 to test Level 4 autonomous vehicles (near-total autonomy) on public roads.
In a technological race where governments, manufacturers, insurers, and developers are working to prepare for the future, numerous technical and legal challenges are dampening the enthusiasm surrounding its development.
Connected vehicles: A (too) high price to pay
The latest developments in this still-fragile technology have been marked by several accidents involving self-driving cars. Tesla, Uber, and more recently Waymo have seen their autonomous vehicles responsible for property damage and even fatalities.
Faced with a sharp decline in consumer and insurer confidence, several companies have halted testing of these vehicles on public roads until they have a better grasp of road safety.
Proponents of self-driving cars regularly publish studies claiming significant reductions in car accidents compared to conventional vehicles.
More than 90% of current accidents are caused by human error, while acknowledging an increase in the financial costs of serious accidents due to rising medical expenses and the value of self-driving cars.
Self-driving cars: Responsibility and insurance still in question
The introduction and widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles presents new economic challenges for all stakeholders in the sector.
These challenges include market integration and competition, the need for appropriate technological support, particularly for the evolving human-computer interaction, consumer expectations and demands, investments in suitable infrastructure (such as “smart” roads equipped with powerful communication networks and vehicle-to-vehicle networks), and all the issues related to national and international regulations.
As such, this still-developing technological advancement raises new legal issues that are already affecting the various stakeholders involved. A recurring problem in the digital realm is that the law is forced to keep pace with technological advancements and address a variety of legal challenges.
Liability in the event of an accident remains one of the most debated issues today.
While civil and criminal liability is based on the driver, the increasing number of stakeholders—passengers who can interfere, particularly through connected devices, car manufacturers, algorithms, programmers, equipment suppliers, and public authorities responsible for road infrastructure—is bound to significantly complicate the current legal framework.
A proposal for cascading or overall liability for the automaker is currently under consideration. Regarding connected vehicles in the testing phase, France has opted for full liability for the authorization holder in charge of the trials.
According to autonomous vehicle laws in the District of Columbia, Florida, and Nevada, the vehicle manufacturer will be exempt from liability in the event of a failure of the autonomous technology, unless they directly installed it on the vehicle or the damage was caused by a vehicle malfunction independent of the autonomous technology.
A related issue of liability is vehicle insurance, which is also the subject of significant negotiations concerning data sharing between manufacturers and insurers. This includes data on the algorithms of the installed software and vehicle data in the event of an accident.
