How self driving car accidents will be handled ?
One day in the past I posted on LinkedIn about Waymo starting commercial drives with its autonomous cars, pretty soon a friend asked me about how accidents will look like, The conversation was interesting and I thought its worth a post by itself , A Guessing post as “predictions are hard especially about the future”.
Its actually easier then most think
I often hear people (some defined as experts) describing self driving cars accidents as hard problem to solve, I think its going to be much easier then current status. The big problems will not be in the technology but the social and economical changes it will bring, I wont discuss these here.
The hard questions
Lets start with the biggest questions self driving cars accidents will rise:
- Who takes the hit ?
- How accident will be handled ?
- Who pays the cost ?
Who takes the hit ?
This is often referred as a super difficult question,Example: assuming the car in a situation where it has to hit one of the following : The passenger, Group of elderly or mother and her child — Which will it choose ?
Though the question brings a very dramatic moment when talking in front of audience in reality its a simple one,a legal one. The first part of it — Given the choice between the passenger and pedestrians, Which will be taken ?
The passenger. Simply because the passenger has signed a EULA saying she understands that in case of life risk the car will do all its can so save all lives before hers. Why ? Because you can make the passenger sign the EULA but you cant make the rest of world sign it globally, its the easier path legally and not even new, Most of us are already doing it when we fly (Your flight is managed by computer all the way and some crash, we accept it and keeps flying).
The next part,Assuming it will have to choose between Group of elderly or mother and her child ?
Again, Simple answer. Law defines all lives as equal so there will be a minimization of lost lives, All other factors are irrelevant. This choice makes economic sense as well, Less victims to compensate.
How accident will be handled ?
Again pretty simple and very similar to today with one exception, The passenger will be represented by the self driving car company/operator.
Lets assume two sides A (passenger or regular car driver,..) and B (Self driving car passenger).
The self driving cars passenger will take no responsibility (assuming he didn't hack the car in anyway) no matter who’s fault it is, Simply because of simple logic: He had no action taken from him during the accident. Think about it for a moment, What an amazing value proposition — you will never be responsible for a car accident as self driving car passenger.
Who pays the cost ?
Self driving cars have so many sensors, cameras and equipment so its going to be super easy to say who’s fault is it. Way more easier compared to today. Once an accident happened the operator of car B will send all information for analysis and get clear answer to be delivered to A that will be one of the following:
- Its our fault, We will pay.
- Its not our fault, These are the evidences and laws in which we think this is the case, feel free to take it to court.
Behind the scenes
Have you ever seen from the inside a corporate dealing with issues that can cost billions in the form of recalls ? Its a pretty geeky sight: Top global talent, No budget constraints and top corporate priority is laser focused on the issue, Like an organism responding to a survival threat.
At Intel corporation I had the pleasure in leading such activities, Both on the personal level as well as a manager and I cant help myself from the following comparison:
Imagine your PC is malfunction and you need to fix it, Now imagine what happens when Your PC is malfunction and Intel has to fix it. Issue is solved, every time, on time. Too much on the line and corporate have people who can do magic in these moments. This is going to be the situation with self driving cars accident from now on. Its no longer your problem, Google (and others) are on it with top corporate priority. Every accident will be deeply analyzed, root-caused and resolved as a threat to the producing corporation existence.
For the first time in human history we will be able to debug and fix car accidents, That thought warms my heart.
Summary
I took a shot in predicting how self driving cars will be handled, I see no risk for this industry from it nor impossible challenges, On the contrary: For the first time ever we face the opportunity to eliminate car accidents and this is actually will become strong motivation for people to stop using regular cars.
When it comes to car accidents, I believe a bright future is ahead.
