자율주행자동차 사고와 민사책임

Liability Concerning Autonomous Car Accident

Autonomous driving technology has drawn much attention these days; major manufacturers have announced that autonomous cars will soon be available for public use. As autonomous cars do not require the driver to “drive” in traditional sense, this technology is expected to increase safety, mobility, and efficiency. While the benefits autonomous driving technology will bring to the society in the near future seem enormous, several issues have been raised. Safety issue is one of them; computers and robots are not perfect, so autonomous cars may malfunction while driving. Even if autonomous cars and their algorithm are perfectly designed, human driver may intervene and take control of the car. As such, the technology is facing some legal challenges, particularly issues arising from the complexity of liability scheme. If an accident involving autonomous car occurs, who will be deemed liable for the accident? Will it be the car manufacturer or software engineers who designed the algorithm making driving decisions, or the car owner who made the decision to or not to intervene? Traditional liability scheme was designed with the aim of reducing the number and severity of such accident, and of allowing the injured party the compensation of the loss. Now the liability scheme needs to be revisited, as this arguably novel situation, the development of robotic technology, calls for new liability scheme with the aim of incentivizing innovation. Such new liability scheme should balance the concern for prevention of the accident and fair allocation of the victim’s loss against the need to promote the innovation in robotic technology. In this regard, this paper examines current liability system, products liability of the car manufacturer and tort liability of the car owner, and addresses the issue of whether such system can achieve the said goal in the case of accidents involving autonomous cars. In line with this observation, this paper further proposes to seriously consider a new no-fault liability insurance system run by the government, thereby promoting reparation of the victim’s loss while promoting innovation of the related technology. By way of subrogation, whoever ultimately responsible for the accident will be held liable, thereby preserving the idea of prevention.