In November 2017, a truck backed into Google’s first self-driving shuttle bus in Las Vegas. 4 Less than six months after the suit was filed, the parties settled with virtually no case development. The motorcyclist declined to file product liability claims and instead sought damages only based on negligence. When it determined it could not complete the lane change, the AV reversed course and hit a motorcyclist who had started to pass the AV. In December 2017, a General Motors AV collided with a motorcyclist in San Francisco. 2 Two publicized non-fatal accidents illustrate the lack of substantive movement in the legal sphere. 2 Most crashes involved a conventional vehicle rear-ending an AV. For example, in California alone, manufacturers filed 30 AV accident reports between late 2014 and mid-April 2017, and only two were caused by the AV. In most non-fatal accidents involving autonomous vehicles, authorities have determined that the AV systems were not responsible. No Precedent for Claims Against AV Manufacturers in Non-Fatal Cases However, in most of these cases either it was clear prior to litigation that the AV was not at fault, or the parties reached a confidential settlement, leaving the industry and its counsel without a legal framework to assign liability in autonomous vehicle litigation. ![]() ![]() Lessons From Autonomous Vehicle CasesĪVs have already been involved in several crashes. Manufacturers can lean on at least five available defenses if autonomous vehicle litigation arises. But we can expect negligence and products liability lawsuits – not to mention statutory claims – as the government begins regulating. The potential theories of liability have not yet been fleshed out or tested in court. Litigation over autonomous vehicles (also referred to as autonomous driving systems or ADS) is in its infancy. If an autonomous vehicle (AV) is involved in an accident, who’s responsible? The car manufacturer? The maker of the automation component parts, such as sensors, cameras or navigation systems? The person who was in the driver’s seat but wasn’t actually “driving”? All three?
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