Self-Driving Car Accident
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Self-Driving Cars Aren’t Always As Safe As Advertised

Self-driving or driverless cars are often marketed as the safest way to travel. While autonomous cars may become the safest mode of transportation in a few decades, for now, they remain a relatively unsafe and understudied phenomenon.

Taking away the operator out of a vehicle and allowing it to rely on artificial intelligence, sensors, computers and other technologies may sound like a good idea, but how safe are self-driving cars? After all, driverless vehicles can eliminate human error, but they also eliminate critical thinking, good judgment and decision-making abilities, all inherent to human beings and not computers.

Problems With Self-Driving Vehicles: Are They Really Our Future?

Surveys show that Americans are slowly getting used to the idea of riding in autonomous vehicles as opposed to driving them. One survey showed that 55% of U.S. drivers say they would be willing to switch to self-driving vehicles, but only when these vehicles have a proven better record compared to human-operated vehicles.

Indeed, the idea of riding in a driverless car sounds amazing. After all, it can eliminate an estimate of up to 95 percent of human error causation for car accidents. But let’s not forget that autonomous cars are a computer, and computers do not always function as intended. This has been the case in several car crashes involving autonomous vehicles.

The passenger in a Tesla died in 2016 because the cameras and sensors in the self-driving car were not functioning properly in the autopilot system. Cases similar to this are not unheard of, which makes many Americans reluctant to believe that driverless vehicles can be a safer alternative to human-operated cars.

Liability In Car Accidents Involving Driverless Vehicles

Clearly, riding in an autonomous vehicle will remain some distant thing from the future as long as car accidents involving self-driving cars continue to make headlines. However, it would be naive to think that the autopilot system has to be an ideal and errorless system 100 percent of the time.

For example, if a self-driving car would get in only one collision out of 50 trips compared to 10 car accidents involving human-driven vehicles, would it still make sense to continue driving human-operated vehicles? Well, you get the point.

Another question that remains unclear is how liability should be discerned and delegated in a car accident involving a driverless car. In a regular car accident involving two vehicles driven by humans, one or both drivers are typically responsible for the crash. But what about self-driving car accidents?

Because self-driving vehicles are still a relatively new phenomenon, specific laws and regulations have yet to be established in Kansas City and all across the U.S. regarding driverless car accidents and liability. More likely than not, the injured might be able to sue the manufacturer of the autonomous vehicles and/or its parts and components or a mechanic responsible for inspection and maintenance of that vehicle (or the owner of the self-driving vehicle if he or she failed to properly maintain the vehicle).

Contact Us If You Are Injured In A Self-Driving Car Accident

Determining liability in a car accident involving driverless cars is anything but easy. That’s why consulting with a Kansas City autonomous car accident lawyer is always a good idea. Contact Mayer & Associates, P.C., to schedule a free consultation. Call 816-692-2877 or use our online contact form to schedule a free consultation.