Minimum Legislation

Heavy regulation for these vehicles is necessary because of the grave damage an autonomous car feature can cause. However, there isn't much regulation and legislation for autonomous or semi autonomous cars on American roads.

While it is legal to own a driverless car, a licensed driver must be in the driver’s seat every time it is on a public road. Even though a semi autonomous car can take you from one point to another, you will be liable for resulting damages if an accident happens due to an overreliance on technology.

An alternative for legislation could be precedence set by court rulings. At this time, there are not a lot of court cases that have dealt with legal liability for accidents from driverless vehicles. Outcomes of cases can set a precedent for how laws are applied going forward. In one case, a 27-year-old Tesla Model S driver named Kevin George Aziz Riad was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide for causing an accident while his car was on autopilot.

Riad had engaged auto-pilot while approaching an intersection and expected his vehicle to stop at a red light. Unfortunately, the feature failed, resulting in a collision that caused the death of two occupants in another vehicle. Riad’s case is only one of the many self-driving car accidents making headlines in the last few years. The case is expected to go to trial in mid-2023 and could set a precedent on how the law treats driverless cars in a criminal context.

Differing Laws

Most states have a form of autonomous vehicle regulation either through legislation, executive order, or both. However, the laws are not consistent across states, meaning that a driver involved in an autonomous car accident in Idaho could face differing consequences from another in Texas. So, you will want to understand your state's laws on semi autonomous and autonomous driving before buying one.

"Technology is changing at a high rate. It's difficult for legislation to catch up," says car accident lawyerJon Ostroff of the Ostroff Injury law firm. But the NHTSA has recently updated its regulations in anticipation of fully autonomous vehicles like the GM's Cruise Origin that do not feature a steering wheel.

Autonomy Levels and Liability

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) classifies vehicle autonomy into six levels, with level zero being fully manual and level 5 being fully autonomous. Most self-driving capable features on the road currently fall under level three – conditional automation.

A level three autonomous vehicle allows the driver to cede control of the vehicle to its autonomous feature and only intervene where the system fails. If the system fails and the driver fails to intervene, the driver can be liable for the resulting damages.

But there are situations where the manufacturer could be liable for damages resulting from an accident. For example, if the system fails and makes the vehicle uncontrollable, liability would lie squarely on the vehicle manufacturer.

As laws and technology draw closer to full autonomy, liability could also shift towards automakers because the driver will have little or nothing to do with controlling the vehicle. For example, GM's Cruise origin doesn't feature a steering wheel, meaning its control is squarely dependent on its features.