points
8 months ago
| 1 comment
| HN
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.
Retric
8 months ago
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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
8 months ago
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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
8 months ago
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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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