BABY, YOU CAN DRIVE MY SELF-DRIVING CAR

Human drivers should not be held responsible for accidents caused by autonomous vehicles

- DR KATE DARLING

In August 2022, the UK government announced a £100m plan to speed up the development and deployment of self-driving vehicles. The plan also calls for new safety regulation, including a bold objective to hold car manufacturers accountable. This would mean that when a vehicle is self-driving, the person behind the wheel will not be responsible for any driving errors. This rule stands in contrast to the US, where courts have faulted human 'backup drivers' for robot-caused accidents. The UK has the right idea - as long as companies don't weasel their way out.

Fully self-driving cars have been on the horizon for quite some time, but are taking much longer than promised to be fully realised. Despite pouring massive resources into research and development, car companies have struggled to account for the sheer amount of unexpected occurrences on roads. Freakish weather is one thing for the vehicles to contend with, but there was also a news story of a self-driving car mistaking the sunset for a traffic light, and another that drove straight into a parked $2m aircraft. So far, the large rollout of automated vehicles the UK is hoping for has remained elusive.