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Volvo Will Accept Liability For Self-Driving Car Crashes (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Volvo has announced it will accept "full liability" for accidents when one of its cars is driving autonomously. It joins Mercedes and Google in this claim, hoping to convince regulators that it's worthwhile to allow testing of such vehicles on public roads. Volvo's CTO said, "Everybody is aware of the fact that driverless technology will never be perfect — one day there will be an accident. So the question becomes who is responsible and we think it's unrealistic to put that responsibility on our customers." Of course, this is limited to flaws in the self-driving system. If the driver does something inappropriate, or if another vehicle causes the accident, then they're still liable. It's also questionable how the courts would treat a promise for liability, but presumably this can be cleared up with agreements when customers start actually using the technology.
Given that Volvo is now a PRC-backed concern under Geely, it's easy for them to just throw out money.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Even though they'll take responsibility, in every state in the US you must still have liability coverage. If these companies are to be their own underwriters so to speak then they'd have to jump through hurdles to be approved to operate as an insurance company as well. They could obviously partner with insurance companies as well.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Also, self-insuring is not as big a deal some people seem to think it is. Yes, there will be some legal/regulatory hurdles, but a lot of the that has to do with financial resources to pay it off, which VW will either still have or be out of business.
More importantly, it will eventually lead to huge profits as current computers are already far safer drivers than human beings.
Always remember it's like being chased by a bear - you don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than your competitors.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
How long will your friend have a job if insurance companies only have to deal with a few car companies?
How long will car insurance companies be around? The car manufacturers will self insure with re-insurance to stave of massive catastrophe.
Claims adjusters are pencil pushing paper shufflers. I'm married to one. Assuming self driving cars and the inevitability of the manufacturers matching Volvo's tactic, there will be no claims adjusters.
You've just hit on an interesting scenario that will be to Volvo's advantage.
Volvo is driving. For any accident, they accept full responsibility. However, a holy-crap scenario arises where the computer has no viable options. Clearly, Volvo is still fully accepting responsibility.
Except, in that type of scenario, I'm going to grab the wheel and try to do something. Since I've done something in this worst case scenario, their lawyers will cite the computer data indicating that 1.4 seconds before the accident, the human driver took control. Suddenly I'm at fault.
Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
No, the EULA on the software will be changed and THEN manufacturer liability will end when you accept the 30 page license after they push the next software upgrade Tuesday night.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
What? Why do you think that a car would be programmed to hit "obstacle B" when "obstacle A" appears in front of it?
Instead, wouldn't the car be programmed to avoid ALL obstacles and apply the brakes with maximum efficiency?
Exactly this.
As a matter of fact, the computer will know about the problem long (hundreds of milliseconds) before you see it and will already be reacting.
The idea that you could react faster or make a better critical decision than the computer is sort of funny actually.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
The idea that you could react faster or make a better critical decision than the computer is sort of funny actually.
Belief in the infallibility of computers and programmers is sort of funny, actually.
I test-drove an SUV last year which would beep if you started crossing the lines in the road. Wow, brilliant, right? Except, for at least six months a year, you can't see the lines on the road around here.
Wags repeat this over and over, but in fairness, the vehicles had not yet been programmed for those conditions. It is the case that needs special work, and they didn't bother doing that part early on. So it tells us nothing about any of it to act like it is some sort of fact of nature that "self driving cars don't work in snow." That is a broad statement that may not even be true now. We don't know. They won't tell us that they're even seriously working on the problem unless they've already got it pretty polished. That is just how R&D works. The public can't see the progress as it happens. Everything on the road that is a "self-driving car" is a prototype. Many current ones may already have this fixed. I can tell you one thing, when they talk about timetables for wanting regulatory approval to actually sell them, they're taking into consideration that they will have to work in snow, and all other seasonally common weather conditions.
You erect the straw man "computers are infallible" to attempt to defeat the claim that computers react more quickly than humans. Fail.
Also, the thing you drove wasn't a commercially available self-driving car, it was a different thing, very primitive with a limited intended function that is different than a self-driving car. One could almost think you were comparing apples to oranges, but in this case it is more like comparing an apple to a cartoon orange sticker.
The part you're getting wrong is that it is never appropriate to swerve. If you had time to check that it is safe to do so, you'd have time to stop. If somebody steps into the crosswalk when you don't have time to stop, your duty is to brake as quickly as possible to reduce the speed before impact. DO NOT SWERVE. The self-driving car is going to get this right 100% of the time; it won't be programmed to panic and create a new accident because of a rash action. Those milliseconds will directly translate into quicker stopping time, or at least reduced impact speed.
He didn't say computers were infallible, just better than the average driver. That's not hard at all.