Self-driving cars will almost certainly be mainstream some day in the future. The question is, if they crash, who is liable for the damages?
The UpShot, the analysis and data visualization section of The New York Times, said it depends.
Claire Cain Miller explained that opinions still differ on some topics, but others feel more concrete.
"Here is what to expect," Miller wrote. "In cases of parking or traffic tickets, the owner of the car would most likely be held responsible for paying the ticket, even if the car and not the owner broke the law.
"In the case of a crash that injures or kills someone, many parties would be likely to sue one another, but ultimately the car's manufacturer, like Google or BMW, would probably be held responsible, at least for civil penalties."
Google, at least publicly, appears to be furthest along when it comes to self-driving cars but BMW and Toyota have announced intentions to sell them.
Human error is the most common cause of accidents and companies say the number of incidents will be reduced. Some errors, be it traffic tickets or worse, are bound to happen and people are already preparing.
At least in theory, self-driving cars will make legal actions involving vehicles easier because of the data they collect, including video.
"The cars could make reconstructing accidents and assigning blame in lawsuits more clear-cut because the car records video and other data about the drive," said Sebastian Thrun, an inventor of driverless cars, to The New York Times.
John Villasenor, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor at U.C.L.A. who wrote a paper proposing guiding principles for driverless car legislation, said the big data behind the cars will help insurers. Companies might even offer cheaper premiums for those who have driverless cars.
But what about criminal cases? Robots cannot be charged with a crime. Miller goes on to answer that question as well in her article, which you can read here.
