Self-Driving Cars Have Both Promise and Pit-Falls
As with many technological advances, self-driving cars offer both great promise and a myriad of potential problems, including safety and legal ramifications. We are on the precipice of a fundamental change in transportation technology and how people interact with it, requiring a new look at laws and regulations, which is already underway.
In 2012, Florida was one of the first states to start addressing this issue from a legislative perspective, outlining its intent for the safe development, testing and operation of these technologies. The Florida Department of Transportation’s Florida Automated Vehicles program was created to educate the public about the issue and for the purpose of research and testing.
Last year the Gainesville region took center-stage nationally on this issue in an unfortunate way when a fatal Tesla car accident occurred in Williston. It marked the first known occurrence in the U.S. of a vehicular fatality with an automated driving system engaged.
An initial federal inquiry concluded earlier this year that the Tesla Autopilot system performed as it was intended — in other words, it did not malfunction. However, a final National Transportation Safety Board report in September found that the driver’s reliance on the Autopilot system, the interaction between human and technology, was a major factor in the deadly crash. The Autopilot system warned the driver multiple times to place his hands on the steering wheel, but the driver had his hands there for only 25 seconds of more than 37 minutes of driving time with the Autopilot engaged prior to the accident.
While Tesla’s driverless system has received much attention as being early-to-market, many other auto and technology companies have announced plans to pursue autonomous vehicle capabilities. Indeed, 2018 and subsequent years will see an explosion in the development and implementation of driverless vehicles as government agencies and legislative bodies scramble to keep up.
We are at a particularly vulnerable period for autonomous vehicle safety and an uncertain time for federal and state regulatory/legal clarity because this new technology is just being introduced, is rapidly developing and is far from being perfected. As we’ve seen with computer vulnerabilities and efforts at cybersecurity, technology moves at such a fast pace that it can be nearly impossible to get a proper handle on the formidable issues at hand.
In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced suggested guidelines rather than mandated regulations for the development of driverless vehicle technologies. I differ in opinion with this approach and see it as analogous to having voluntary rules for robots performing surgery. Not a good idea.
As a career attorney handling, among other cases, many tragic vehicular accidents, I’ve seen the terrible human toll when our laws and regulations don’t offer strong, mandatory direction and deterrence to bad outcomes on our roadways. This applies to vehicle manufacturers, vehicle component manufacturers and drivers. In short, it leads to chaos and death. Without required standards, the manufacturers will do whatever they want, regulated solely by the courts and tort law that will evolve to handle an entire new generation of claims.
The longer-term hope for autonomous vehicles, if and only if the technology can be perfected, is to remove the inconsistent/imperfect human decision making that causes so many accidents and deaths (alcohol-related, distracted driving, etc.). It could also provide greater transportation access and quality of life benefits to the elderly and disabled. However, the deadly Williston accident serves as a cautionary tale for the future both in terms of our reliance on technology and the need for regulatory agencies and legislative bodies to keep pace with and address a multitude of emerging ethical and legal issues.
Read the original article at www.gainesville.com.