April, 2014 - John Villasenor - Products Liability and Driverless Cars: Issues and Guiding Principles for Legislation
This paper provides a discussion of how products liability law will impact autonomous vehicles, and provides a set of guiding principles for legislation that should—and that should not—be enacted. In some very specific, narrow respects, state-level legislative clarity regarding autonomous vehicle liability can be beneficial. Vehicle manufacturers that sell non-autonomous vehicles, for example, should not be liable for defects in third-party vehicle automation systems installed in the aftermarket. But broad new liability statutes aimed at protecting the manufacturers of autonomous vehicle technology are unnecessary.
September, 2013 - Bryant Walker Smith - Proximity-Driven Liability
This working paper argues that commercial sellers’ growing information about, access to, and control over their products, product users, and product uses could significantly expand their point-of-sale and post-sale obligations toward people endangered by these products. The paper first describes how companies are embracing new technologies that expand their information, access, and control, with primary reference to the increasingly automated and connected motor vehicle. It next analyzes how this proximity to product, user, and use could impact product-related claims for breach of implied warranty, defect in design or information, post-sale failure to warn or update, and negligent enabling of a third-party’s tortious behavior. It finally flips the analysis to consider how the uncertainty caused in part by changing liability could actually drive companies to further embrace this proximity.
May, 2013 - NHTSA - Preliminary Statement of Policy Concerning Automated Vehicles
The NHTSA policy concerning vehicle automation, including its plans for research on related safety issues and recommendations for states related to the testing, licensing, and regulation of “autonomous” or “self-driving” vehicles.
April, 2013 - ITIF - The Road Ahead: The Emerging Policy Debates for IT in Vehicles
This paper discusses how policy decisions about IT in the vehicle should be driven, not by narrow interests and concerns, but rather by a broad government mandate to foster innovation in the transportation sector.
November, 2012 - Stanford Center for Internet and Society - Automated Vehicles are Probably Legal in the United States
This paper provides the most comprehensive discussion to date of whether so-called automated, autonomous, self-driving, or driverless vehicles can be lawfully sold and used on public roads in the United States. The short answer is that the computer direction of a motor vehicle’s steering, braking, and accelerating without real-time human input is probably legal. The long answer, contained in the paper, provides a foundation for tailoring regulations and understanding liability issues related to these vehicles.
April, 2009 - UC Berkley PATH Program - Liability and Regulation of Autonomous Vehicle Technologies
This paper discusses the regulatory climate around driverless transportation.
