There’s been a lot of talk recently about self-driving cars. In fact, we’ve posted several blogs that involve these cars and how liability is going to be decided. Today a recent accident has raised some new questions. As we’ve mentioned before, there is a lot to be decided about the law involving self-driving cars. If you’ve been in a car accident of any kind, you can trust that Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas can provide legal assistance. Call us today at 909-982-0707 for a free case evaluation.
Today’s case involves a company called Waymo
In today’s instance of a car crash involving a self-driving car, the company in question is a company called Waymo. Once a part of Google’s division of self-driving cars, they are now their own company and one of their vehicles was recently involved in a car accident.
As is true of many of the car accidents that have involved self-driving cars so far, this one involved a human driver hitting the self-driving car from behind. While these types of car accidents have gotten the most press coverage, they aren’t the only type of accidents that have happened that involve self-driving cars.
Requirements of current laws may be to blame for one accident
In the accident that involved the Waymo crash, there was a human driver behind the wheel of the self-driving car. In fact, this is currently the law – there must be a human at the wheel of any self-driving car. The human driver must also be able to turn off self-driving mode – and that’s what happened in this case.
The human driver saw that a crash was coming, turned off self-driving mode, and tried to prevent the crash. Obviously, the human driver wasn’t successful but whose fault is that? Would the self-driving car have found another way out of the accident if she hadn’t gotten involved? Was she the actual cause of the accident? Luckily, this was a minor accident without any type of catastrophic injuries.
There are still questions of liability
The accident described above is similar to the accidents that have occurred with Uber’s self-driving cars. Once again, the questions are all about liability: Who is at fault here? The courts have not fully weighed in yet but some people believe that a surprising entity may be held responsible in future cases – the engineers of the vehicles themselves.
Think about it this way: In order to program a self-driving car, an engineer must program tens of thousands of simulations into the technology. They must give the car information on what to do in millions of situations. What happens if their programming is faulty and an accident results from it? It may be possible for them to be held accountable.
Let us help you with any accidents you’ve suffered through
Have you been hurt in a car accident or another type of accident? Was someone or some entity negligent in your case? If so, then it may be time to reach out to a personal injury attorney who can help. Call Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas at 909-982-0707 today for your free case evaluation.
