[ghaff]

>or owner is responsible for his vehicle's actions?

If it's sold as fully autonomous, i.e. significantly beyond Tesla's system today, I don't see how the manufacturer could not have the liability. How comfortable would you be to use a car that could expose you to severe criminal liability because some company made a mistake with their software?

[masonic]

liability is assumed. I speak to criminal prosecution like an impaired human driver would face in addition to financial liability. The automated vehicle would face no criminal exposure.

The company responsible would also have a clear incentive to alter/destroy any damning evidence gathered in telemetry.

[ghaff]

>The company responsible would also have a clear incentive to alter/destroy any damning evidence gathered in telemetry.

Not saying it doesn't happen. But now you've gone from a product liability case which rarely has individual criminal consequences to actions that clearly do.

If/when we get to this point, it will be "interesting" though. Outside of maybe the medical area, there aren't many examples of consumer-facing products that, when used as directed, kill people because sometimes "stuff happens." And people generally understand that's just the way it is.

It's not out of the realm of possibility to imagine government-approved autonomous driving systems that insulate everyone involved from liability so long as they're used and maintained as directed. See e.g. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. I'm not sure it's likely but it might become a possibility if manufacturers find they're too exposed.