Who is Liable in Self-Driving Car Accidents?

Technology keeps evolving by the day, gracing our sights with mind-blowing innovation that literally leaves one mouth agape, staring in awe at how instrumental such devices are and the solution they procure to lifelong problems that seemed impossible in the past. One of such innovations is the self-driving car, which used a combination of electronic and artificial intelligence to navigate our road without the need for human input. But paraventure, if such a vehicle gets involved in an accident, who should take the blame? Is it the owner or manufacturer of such vehicles? In this article, I'll talk extensively on this, in my opinion.

You see one thing about we humans is the fact that we love to shift blame, and that usually leads to more chaos and unrest. Rather than taking blame for something we orchestrated, you'll find the person finding a way out and how to blame something else from their own mistakes; however, in the case of a self-driven car, I believe this is somewhat peculiar and complicated. Before we can identify who's to blame, we must also first vet all details involved in what led to the such accident before reaching a conclusion.

To start with, I'm a big fan of technological innovation, and I'll always thrill to get my hands on them, and so if paraventure I can afford to purchase a self-driven car, I won't think twice before buying it, although there are some factors to consider before buying it too, and I'll explain them bit by bit. The first thing is to consider the factor of whether our road system and network can accommodate such a type of vehicle, and another is if such is allowed or approved by the government to be on the road.

One of the biggest causes of accidents is the drivers we've got on the road; most of them tend to disobey traffic rules, and on most occasions that leads to accidents leading to losses of lives and property. Another is how bad the road is; with loads of potholes here and there, it damages vehicles gradually, and before you know it, some part of the vehicle might get damaged while on the move, leading to accidents as well.

Now concerning who's to blame for an accident that happened involving a self-driven car, like I said, we'll have to consider the factor that led to such an accident. There are situations where a self-driven car will obey traffic rules and move when it ought to, and from nowhere another vehicle who disobeys traffic rules from the other side hits the car and leads to an accident. In that situation, we can't blame the owner of the car, nor will we blame the manufacturer, but blame the other driver that disobeys traffic rules.

In the other situation, since most of these cars have artificial intelligence that has been programmed to be smart and scan the road and as well obey the owners in special cases, a self-driven car is trying to be conscious and not speed, but the owner insisted the car increases its pace because he wants to meet a deadline, then the owner must take the blame if an accident occurs after such a command.

And lastly, in my opinion, if a self-driven car gets involved in an accident and it's due to technical issues, then the manufacturer must be ready to take the blame for their mistakes. They've put the mind of everyone at rest that the vehicle is smart, so when the car does otherwise and it leads to accidents, then they must take responsibility and serve whatever punishment the issue is worth.

In a nutshell, like I said, it's a dynamic situation, and depending on what led to the accident when vetted is what will determine who's to take the blame, and if everyone plays their role accordingly, then the chances of an accident occurring will be minimized, leading to security of lives and properties even with the usage of self-driven cars.

All photos are taken and Canva.