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by cgriswald 508 days ago
Vehicles have defects and sometimes the manufacturer is at fault for accidents.

The upstream poster is correct. This new law has no relevance to who is liable. It would simply remove "the AI did it" as a valid defense in any case (with whatever exceptions are defined in the existing law referenced).
1 comments
Retric 508 days ago
Like the resale of stolen property. The victim can always just sue you, you may be able to sue the person you got it from.
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cgriswald 508 days ago
You can always be sued, and this may be a difficult defense to make in practice, but drivers are not generally liable for accidents caused by mechanical failure if the cause is manufacturing defect.
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Retric 508 days ago
Sure, if you can demonstrate that there’s no reasonable way the fault could have been predicted or avoided then that can get you off the hook.

However if your tire blows out you’d be expected to demonstrate that you regularly inspect them for ware or damage and there hasn’t been a recall etc. That same level of proactive care is going to be applied to self driving systems.

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cgriswald 508 days ago
I don’t see anyone really disputing that. To the extent I’ve participated in this thread it has been to make clear:

1. Both car manufacturers and car drivers can be liable, even with self-driving cars. Any confusion here is likely due to conflating the car with the car manufacturer.

2. The proposed law wouldn’t assign liability, it would simply remove “the AI did it” as a possible legal defense.

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Retric 508 days ago
What I think people are ignoring is choosing to be an early adopter of fully autonomous self driving vehicles is itself going to be questioned.

Being the first member of the general public to use a 100% self driving car the first day it’s available might even be considered reckless if it then crashes that day.

Later of is a model is preforming poorly operating such a vehicle could be called into question etc.

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