My thought exactly.... how can the passenger in an autonomous vehicle be held responsible for anything other than the maintenance of the vehicle such that it is in a roadworthy, registered and insured condition at all times on the road. (In the same way that the driver of a non-autonomous vehicle is held responsible for road worthiness etc).Quote:
Originally Posted by Eevo
If the vehicle is roadworthy, insured and registered, what is the difference between the passenger/owner of an autonomous vehicle and...:
- the passenger/owner of a vehicle being driven by a paid driver?
- the passenger/owner of a vehicle being driven by a third party (friend, relative, carjacker)?
In the above cases there is another driver to take blame/responsibility in an accident. Certainly not the passenger, even if the owner of the vehicle that is legal in all respects.
In the case of an autonomous vehicle, there is no "other driver" to take responsibility. But again I would argue that if the vehicle were fully legal in all respects - the "passenger" isn't at fault in an accident. This has to be clear and simple!
What is NOT clear is the problem of who to blame/hold responsible. And that is the problem to be solved by venerable and reasonable law makers.
Likely the way to resolve this is to do what we do with any other potentially dangerous unmanned situations involving machines (automated production lines, unmanned light rail etc...) - isolate these automated/unmanned machines from the general populace. Closed, restricted access work spaces. Fenced, restricted access, rail lines etc.
