Two Autonomous Cars Almost Collide - Who is at Fault?

[thstone]

A Google self-driven Lexus RX400h crossover cut off a Delphi Automotive self-driven Audi Q5 yesterday, forcing the Audi to take evasive action and abort a planned lane change.

Brings up the question of who would be at fault in such a situation?

Finding fault in simple fender benders could become as complex as re-creating air disasters!

Reuters News - Self Driving Near Miss

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by thstone

Two Autonomous Cars Almost Collide - Who is at Fault?

The moron that thought this was a good idea..............

[Timco]

Shouldn't the story be that both cars avoided each other?

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by Timco

Shouldn't the story be that both cars avoided each other?

True...nobody's "at fault" when there's been no collision, no injury, no property damage.

That said, eventually there WILL be such a collision, with all the attendant issues of property damage and personal injury. At that point, I'll side with JFP..

[Paul]

The guy that wrote the code?

Imagine what the lawyers would do with this:

While watching your car drive itself, the car determines it can not stop in time to avoid hitting a stopped semi and avoid killing you unless it swerves and hits a young women pushing a baby carriage...

[BIGJake111]

In the baby carrier scenario, shouldn't the car simply protect the passengers.

I am no fan of driverless cars but in the case of an accident a driverless car should protect the passengers within that car an any outside casualties would be found to be due to whatever causes the accident in the first place therefore being the semi I guess?

[Timco]

Originally Posted by BIGJake111

In the baby carrier scenario, shouldn't the car simply protect the passengers.

I am no fan of driverless cars but in the case of an accident a driverless car should protect the passengers within that car an any outside casualties would be found to be due to whatever causes the accident in the first place therefore being the semi I guess?

A human can recognize the secondary obstacle, the baby carrier and mom, and avoid that too if possible. However, some choices of the lesser evil are just that.

It's never about just your passengers. It's always about you, the passengers, and everyone else who is currently sharing the road. Drunk drivers say it's a victimless crime, but that's only when they were lucky enough to not damage someone else's property or health.