> those liabilities are an existing part of the cost of doing business in the auto industry, not something new with automated vehicles.
You've written this in several posts and I think it's wrong. Consumer class actions are typically done on contingency, or with 3rd party financing, which means that cases must be somewhat likely to win before they even get filed.
Thus while it's true in theory that anyone can sue an auto manufacturer in any given accident, most accidents do not result in such suits. Consider that the GM ignition switch problem caused a number of deaths over the course of years before a suit was even filed on it. Auto manufacturers self-insure based on the expected rate of such lawsuits, and they obviously have very good data about that, as the movie Fight Club so memorably illustrated.
In a fully autonomous car a driver is not making any decisions at all, so how can they be liable? The balance would certainly shift toward more suits against manufacturers.
> In a fully autonomous car a driver is not making any decisions at all, so how can they be liable?
In a fully autonomous car, the owner is making decisions about maintenance, and in almost any case of claimed manufacturer's defect, distinguishing whether the cause is, in fact, a manufacturer's defect rather than a failure of maintenance will be important.
> The balance would certainly shift toward more suits against manufacturers.
Sure, because exactly the things that drivers-as-operators (rather than owners-as-maintainers) are now liable for would usually be the responsibility of the manufacturer. The amount of liability that represents is, to a close approximation, the cost of insurance coverage for the vehicle, so its essentially transferring the cost of drivers insurance to the manufacturer (who will roll it into the purchase price.)
Not only can consumers not maintain the software in their self-driving car, under the DMCA it is criminal for them to even attempt to do so! And it is the software that is the distinguishing characteristic of a fully autonomous self-driving car.
> Not only can consumers not maintain the software in their self-driving car
(1) Maintaining a self-driving car is more than maintaining software,
(2) Even in the case of software, an owner might have responsibilities with regard to maintenance (not in the sense of "maintaining software" in the programming sense, but in the sense of ensuring that, e.g., updates released by the manufacturer are downloaded and installed -- even if this is an automated, the owner may be responsible for making sure the vehicle is kept where that process can successfully complete and not interfering with it.)
> And it is the software that is the distinguishing characteristic of a fully autonomous self-driving car.
The "distinguishing characteristic" of a self-driving car is not the only thing relevant to liability.
In many cases, the manufacturer could include software that prevents the car from operating if maintenance is out of date.
There are a lot of ways the manufacturer can increase safety that might have negative consequences. For example, what happens if a manufacturer decides that all models over 10 years old are too risky? How do you separate their legitimate desire to ensure safety in their own self interest from their desire to sell more cars?
You might need to bring a lawyer when buying a car in the future.
You've written this in several posts and I think it's wrong. Consumer class actions are typically done on contingency, or with 3rd party financing, which means that cases must be somewhat likely to win before they even get filed.
Thus while it's true in theory that anyone can sue an auto manufacturer in any given accident, most accidents do not result in such suits. Consider that the GM ignition switch problem caused a number of deaths over the course of years before a suit was even filed on it. Auto manufacturers self-insure based on the expected rate of such lawsuits, and they obviously have very good data about that, as the movie Fight Club so memorably illustrated.
In a fully autonomous car a driver is not making any decisions at all, so how can they be liable? The balance would certainly shift toward more suits against manufacturers.