November 10, 2020

Future of road accidents: Self-driving Cars

What is a self-driving car? 

A self-driving car is a vehicle capable of sensing its environment and operating without human intervention. A human commuter is not required to take control of the vehicle at any time,  nor is a human passenger needed to be present in the vehicle at all. A self-driving car can go anywhere a conventional car goes and do everything that a skilled individual driver does. The global autonomous vehicle market demand is estimated to be at approximately 6.7  thousand units in 2020 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 63.1% from 2021 to 2030. 

Who is to blame in the case of an accident involving a self-driving car? 

In manually driven cars, the responsibility lies with drivers as they are in control. But the difficulty arises with self-driving vehicles due to vagueness in the identification of the culprit. For technology-enabled self-driving vehicles, the culpability can be assigned to, or parted by,  one of many entities – including the vehicle owner, the service centre and the manufacturer. 

Manufacturers could be responsible in the case of a fault in the design, the software provider for flawed system software, or the service centre for insufficient assistance to the vehicle.  Alternatively, carelessness culpability might fall to the owner for failing to comply with guidelines from the manufacturer, or with the manufacturer if it would have been possible to avoid the accident by a human driver. 

How can the circumstances surrounding an accident be determined? 

Luckily, self-driving vehicles are full of information due to the variety of sensors available onboard that monitor, track and compute everything. Navigation sensors determine maps.  Surrounding awareness sensors identify hindrances, follow marks on the lane and detect traffic signs. And peripheral sensors monitor critical functions like oil levels and tyre pressure.

It seems as a general remedy to consider data gathered from vehicle sensors for culpability decisions. We can readily retrieve all the sensor-enabled data to reconstruct the scene of an accident. 

However, it gets more complicated in reality. The hurdle in this new ecosystem is that some of the potentially liable entities may also have disproportionate access and control over the sensor data. There are chances that one of these entities may alter the data to direct the liability decision in its support, using the wireless and USB interfaces that are already supported by current vehicles. That means we must also consider any interactions with the vehicle after the accident while collecting tamper-free sensor data. 

What to do when you suffer from sustained injuries due to someone else’s negligence? 

There are professional lawyers that can help you get justice. You can seek help from Brylak  Law, an experienced Texas & Colorado Personal Injury Lawyer. Typically, insurance companies will not just offer you that money. You will need to fight to get every penny that you’re owed. Personal Injury lawyers at Brylak law can certainly help you in such situations.The best part about our car accident attorneys at the Brylak  Law is they handle cases on a contingency fee basis i.e. you pay only if you win the case. For more information, visit the below link: https://www.brylaklaw.com Our offices are located at San Antonio, TX, Colorado Springs, CO and Pueblo, Colorado