If Your Driverless Car Causes an Accident, Are You Responsible?

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers.
Dave Barry

No matter how much we complain about driving – traffic, lunatic drivers, road rage – most of us will be loathe to give up control to a driverless car. After all, what is a driverless car but a computer on wheels? And how many of us have enough confidence in our computers to trust them with our lives? NOT ME!!! I don’t know about you, but my computer is frequently possessed and it’s not nearly as obedient as a piece of equipment should be.

Now they want to unleash driverless cars upon us, but are we, or the driverless cars really ready? I think not! Here are my top 2 reasons why:

1. Autonomous vehicles still struggle with mundane challenges such as tumbleweed, police officers giving traffic directions and wild animals, a Volkswagen executive has warned attendees at a conference session on the challenges facing the much-hyped technology.
2. There's no centralized governance over driverless cars yet. Government agencies and states are working with the issues, there's also a standards committee from the Society of Automotive Engineers, which is looking at creating a set of voluntary standards for vehicle design.

If your driverless car causes an accident (and surely they will. Google’s self-driving cars have been in several minor accidents.), will you or the car manufacturer be on the hook?  These driverless cars, which are in essence computers on wheels, can also get hacked. In July Fiat Chrysler recalled 1.4 million vehicles after security researchers demonstrated to Wired Magazine that they could remotely take control of a Jeep driving down the highway. 

We’ve got interesting days ahead. I just wish they’d work out the details first instead of being more concerned with being first to market.

Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet him.

Pastor Floyd Ingram

Make someone smile today and drive safe!

Geri