In the automotive sector, digitalisation, connectivity and automation are rapidly expanding. In tomorrow’s vehicles, human beings will merely be passengers – which raises a host of complex legal issues regarding accidents involving self-driving vehicles. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive, global overview of civil liability regimes for all levels of vehicle automation in jurisdictions that represent some of the most important markets for the automotive industry. After a technical introduction to how self-driving cars work, the individual chapters analyse the liability for driving automation at SAE J3016 levels 0 through 5 from a country-specific perspective. All chapters were written by experts in the field and follow a uniform legal structure. Hence, the book offers an essential comparative analysis of similarities and differences in the jurisdictions examined, while also providing suggestions for future legislative changes at the national and international level. The book is not only relevant for legal scholars and practitioners but will also be of particular interest to anyone involved in the design, manufacture, distribution and operation of self-driving vehicles.

Delving deep into the emerging international and federal statutory and legislative developments surrounding Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technologies, Atilla Kasap assesses whether current motor vehicle regulations, liability law and the liability insurance system are fit for purpose today and in the future.

Autonomous systems driven by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have significant potential for increased productivity and improved safety in many sectors, but it is inevitable that some accidents will occur. The law needs an adequate way to respond to these scenarios and compensate those wrongfully injured. This comprehensive book examines the unique difficulties that autonomous systems create for existing accident compensation systems founded on tort, and proposes solutions.

This edited book aims to address challenges facing the deployment of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles were predicted to hit the road by 2017. Even though a high degree of automation may have been achieved, vehicles that can drive autonomously under all circumstances are not yet commercially available, and the predictions have been adjusted. Now, experts even say that we are still decades away from fully autonomous vehicles. In this volume, the authors form a multidisciplinary team of experts to discuss some of the reasons behind this delay. The focus is on three areas: business, technology, and law. The authors discuss how the traditional car manufacturers have to devote numerous resources to the development of a new business model, in which the sole manufacturing of vehicles may no longer be sufficient. In addition, the book seeks to introduce how technological challenges are creating a shift toward connected autonomous vehicles. Further, it provides insight into how regulators are responding to the insufficiently tested technology and how lawyers try to answer the liability question for accidents with these autonomous vehicles.

This book sets out a possible trajectory for the co-development of legal responsibility on the one hand and artificial intelligence and the machines and systems driven by it on the other. As autonomous technologies become more sophisticated it will be harder to attribute harms caused by them to the humans who design or work with them. This will put pressure on legal responsibility and autonomous technologies to co-evolve. Mark Chinen illustrates how these factors strengthen incentives to develop even more advanced systems, which in turn strengthens nascent calls to grant legal and moral status to autonomous machines. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners of legal doctrine, ethics, and autonomous technologies.

The book presents the way in which different countries around the world are adapting their law, essentially civil liability law, to support the development of vehicles equipped with automated or autonomous driving systems and to fairly allocate the resulting risks.