자율주행자동차 관리 및 교통사고에 대한 형사책임

Criminal Liability of Traffic Accidents & Management of the Autonomous Vehicle

In Korea, casualties caused by accidents are aggregated in the order of traffic accidents, industrial accidents, fire accidents, but the Autonomous Vehicle may significantly reduce traffic accidents leading cause of death in modern society, in addition, it seems that the Autonomous Vehicle can be an important mode of transportation by giving the freedom of movement to the elderly or disabled and by allowing people to invest their time spent on driving to another thing. To support this trend, as scheduled in the current plan to complete the commercialization of the Autonomous Vehicle, the government should pay close attention to traffic laws and institutional arrangements for smooth dissemination of the Autonomous Vehicle. Although formal terms are legally used in Article 27 of the Motor Vehicle Management Act concerning the temporary vehicle operation permission, improving laws related to road transport including the Motor Vehicle Management Act and the Road Traffic Act must be completed in 2020 which is committed to operating in earnest the Autonomous Vehicle by the commercialization. Given the current legal aspects, it is questionable whether the age of fully autonomous driving difficult to ascertain fully autonomous driving is established in 2020 as planned. Also automobile manufacturers in the world, such as Benz, BMW, Audi, Hyundai and etc., including Google, are developing the Autonomous Vehicle, however, by the look of movement to set the concept of driver’s seat as it stands without removing the steering wheel, autonomous driving mode will be able to commercialize only autonomous functions attached to current automotive system in the center of driver. But the development goals of the Autonomous Vehicle are to finally commercialize the vehicles operating for the elderly or disabled free from difficult operations, caring socially disadvantaged, so the government has to prepare by 2020 with the idea that does not stay simply on the current concept of driver and may legislate the new law relating to road traffic & management.