Following a recent Kelly Blue Book poll which found than an overwhelming majority of Americans are unconvinced about buying and using self-driving vehicles, many questions about the actual level of autonomy of self-driving cars have been raised recently. In spite of a claim by a top Tesla Motors, Inc. Executive that self-driving autonomous cars will be readily available within 24 months, numerous automobile industry experts contend that this claim is a considerable exaggeration of self-driving capabilities. Under current marketing trends, consumers might be led to believe that autonomous vehicles would allow for a driver to simply pick a destination and relax while a self-driving vehicle travels autonomously to the selected destination. However, a professor of engineering at Carnegie Mellon University who works alongside General Motors Co., when interviewed by the Wall Street Journal stated that fully autonomous technology for self-driving vehicles is not yet available and wouldn’t be for at least 15 to 20 years. Moreover, even if self-driving vehicles were fully autonomous, technology experts claim that most vehicles would be limited to specific geographical regions or restricted to certain speed limits, in a manner similar to driverless vehicles transporting travelers at airports, instead of being fully autonomous and driverless. In spite of these concerns, some automobile manufacturers continue to contend that the problems of driverless vehicles to sense and control reactions to road conditions have been mostly resolved, which certainly lead to interesting developments in the automotive industry regardless of the progress of this type of autonomous technology.
Another interesting challenge facing driverless vehicles once fully implemented will be determining civil liability from collisions occurring as a result of a driverless vehicle misinterpreting traffic conditions. Courts will then have to decide whether the operator of such vehicles will be liable as a person who could override the automated technology, or the automobile manufacturers, if the vehicle was considered to be defective in causing a collision. However, while the technology is developed to provide autonomous vehicles, any individual due to the negligence of another motorist may be entitled to seek compensation and we ask that you contact our experienced legal team at 888-578-3100 or at IndyInjured.com for a free consultation and case evaluation.
Sources:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/drivers-definitely-sold-self-driving-cars-wells-fargos-john-c-abell
http://www.wsj.com/articles/self-driving-hype-doesnt-reflect-reality-1474821801?mod=ST1