Self Driving Car
Self-Driving Cars: Autonomous Technology
| June 12th, 2017
A previous entry took a look at a Brookings Institute paper examining products liability and self-driving cars. That paper, observing that “[a]utonomous vehicles will complicate the . . . entanglements between insurance providers, plaintiffs, drivers/owners named as defendants, and manufacturers,” set forward a number of proposals for state lawmakers. As a follow up, this entry […]
Liability Law and the Autonomous Vehicle
| May 31st, 2017
A paper from the Brookings Institute provides a discussion of how products liability law will impact autonomous vehicles. The paper was published in mid-2014, almost three years ago, but resonates today in the wake of the first motor vehicle accident where an autonomous vehicle was found to be at fault. The crux of the paper […]
Autonomous vehicle: Changing the landscape
| May 5th, 2017
Autonomous vehicles will transform the look of our roadways in more ways than one. A report from the US Department of Transportation explored whether self-driving cars would comply with existing vehicle manufacturing standards. The standards— the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards —encompassed 73 separate standards that generally focused on issues of crash avoidance, crashworthiness and […]
Driverless Car Debate Continues
| May 3rd, 2017
As a follow up to our entry exploring the aftermath of the first motor vehicle collision involving an autonomous car that Google—or any other self-driving car manufacturer—has taken responsibility for, a recent article published in The Atlantic poses an interesting hypothetical: “Can Google’s Driverless Car Project Survive A Fatal Accident?” The author claims that she […]
The Attitude Towards Autonomous Vehicles
| April 20th, 2017
A recent survey by AAA provides important perspective on society’s attitudes toward autonomous vehicles. Key findings include: • Only one‐in‐five (20%) U.S. drivers would trust an autonomous vehicle to drive itself with them in it. • Three‐quarters (75%) of U.S. drivers would be afraid to allow an autonomous vehicle to drive itself with them in […]
A Valentine’s Day Heartbreaker for Google
| April 20th, 2017
As covered in an earlier blog entry, over the past five years Google has taken pride in the fact that, despite its self-driving car fleet being involved in several accidents since launch, all were caused by human error. That all changed on February 14, 2016, Valentine’s Day, when Google’s vehicle was involved in a collision […]
Self Driving Cars and General Obligations Law
| April 6th, 2017
Our last post explored, proposed Assembly Bill A31 is New York’s reaction to car manufacturers’ testing of self-driving cars on our roads. While that post focused on amendments to the Vehicle & Traffic Law, today’s post will hone in on the proposed amendments to the General Obligations Law. The primary change to the General Obligations […]
New York Prepares for Self-Driving Cars
| March 30th, 2017
As discussed in our last blog post, many states are taking action to prepare their roadways—and citizenry—for the introduction of autonomous cars. Today’s post will take a close look at New York’s reaction, Assembly Bill A31, which was introduced and referred to the Committee on Transportation of January 7, 2015. The Bill has a stated […]
Innovation Breeds Legislation
| March 16th, 2017
As chronicled in a previous blog entry, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has released draft regulations for the public deployment of autonomous vehicles, prompting a sharp rebuke from Google, who claims the regulations—which aim to require in all vehicles a licensed operator capable of taking control at any given moment—stifle innovation. California is not […]
California DMV and Self-Driving Cars
| March 15th, 2017
California DMV Releases Self-Driving Car Regulations for Public Comment (Written by Matthew Kaiser) In late 2015, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) released for public comment draft regulations for the public deployment of autonomous vehicles. Upon release, The Washington Post observed that the draft regulations “offer[ed] an early window into how regulators will address […]