A hint of the effects became available to authorities in all municipalities, including Ontario, in 2016. That year some researchers studied what could happen when driverless vehicles travel on the road. Those researchers found that it was best to have a driver in each vehicle, as a precaution. That driver could take corrective action, in the event of an emergency.
A car accident with a driverless automobile reflects a problem with the vehicle’s technology.
That fact got highlighted one time when Uber experimented with driverless vehicles. One of Uber’s cars got out of control and hit a woman. She suffered fatal injuries.The details on that incident should send a message to every personal injury lawyer in Trenton. Personal injury lawyers ought to devote time to learning as much as possible about the technology used in driverless vehicles.
Still, in the future the attorney for someone that was injured by a car without a driver should not assume that the maker of that particular vehicle must bear all of the responsibility. Any car contains a large number of working parts. Furthermore, a defect in just one of those parts might lead to creation of an automobile with poor-functioning technology.
Moreover, any car’s technological capabilities will depend on the extent to which its operating software can deal with a wide range of situations. Indeed, that software might not be equipped to detect the presence of a pedestrian that has failed to wear bold-colored clothes. So, who would be at-fault if a driverless vehicle were to hit such a pedestrian?
The future is upon us.
The question posed at the end of the above paragraph is the sort of question with which personal injury lawyers will have to wrestle in the future. Meanwhile, society must contemplate the consequences if all cars lack drivers and almost all pedestrians walk around with their eyes focused on a hand-held device. Then who should be made responsible for any accident in which a driverless vehicle hits and injures someone that is walking across the street?
Even today, a growing number of drivers are asking how society can put pressure on walkers to keep their eyes focused on their surroundings, rather than on a hand-held device. Their questions appear in letters to the editor, which have been published in printed publications. Yet no personal injury attorney seems eager to suggest a solution, one that might help society to deal with its present or future problems.
As the study conducted in 2016 has made all too clear, the problems of today should help alert us to the problems of the future. So, are students that receive training in personal injury law able to gain an insight into such problems? If not, why not?