[AnimalMuppet]

Well... if the algorithm is certified as being able to do X autonomously, and it fails as doing X, then whoever certified it should be liable (presumably a corporation). If it's supposed to be monitored, then whoever was supposed to be monitoring it should be liable (but see below).

So in the case of a "self driving car", if it's claimed to be truly autonomous, if the ads say you can take a nap and the car will wake you at your destination, and the car crashes, then the company that made those claims is liable. If the claim is that the car is supposed to help the human but the human still has to drive, then the human had better be paying attention enough to drive. (And in cases where the company doesn't certify that it's truly a self-driving car, but the advertisements heavily imply that, you've got some nice court cases about who's liable.)

Here's the "but see below" part. The Boeing 737 Max crashes are... I don't quite know what to do with them. The pilot is responsible for flying the plane, no matter what. And yet, the planes have certification of airworthiness (not certified by the pilot). I am not trying to pin all the blame for those crashes on the pilots.