Personal Injury Attorney
As cities and countries slowly start to reopen, there is one sector that is taking advantage of the lockdown situation while they still can: the technology sector. Namely, its obsession to further the advancement of self-driving car technology.
Testing the Cars
Lockdowns have provided the technology sector with the perfect opportunity to test and advance their efforts in developing self-driving cars. With cities in quarantine, the amount of cars on the roads had significantly decreased, which allowed the opportunity for companies to test their self-driving vehicles on the road. As cities gradually lifted their lockdowns, cars slowly returned to the roads enabling companies to test their software with gradually increasing variables and obstacles to contend with.
Who Will Personal Injury Claims Be Against?
Hyundai had a joint venture with software company Apertiv, and revealed that their tests on autonomous cars were successful. The future of driverless cars may not be so far off. But where does that leave the future of personal injury? Technology and algorithms aren’t always perfect. If two driverless cars end up in a collision, who do you sue when no one was driving the driverless car? While no one can predict the future, here’s just an idea of who we might be filing our damage claims against in the year 2050:
The Software Company
In the future, the software company who created the vehicle will likely be our “go to” entity when filing a lawsuit. Since they develop the technology that causes cars to perceive obstacles and act accordingly, it will be their fault if the technology they developed can’t navigate the road as efficiently as they advertise.
The Car Manufacturer
People often dream of having the power of superspeed, but they don’t think about the fact that the human mind and body can’t realistically hold up running at high speeds or produce and send out signals throughout the body to cause this speed to occur. You can apply this concept to cars. The software company can create the most efficient, calculative, and faultless software in history, but if the car itself can’t keep up then it’s all for naught.
The Owner of the Car
In every age of car advancement, cars have and will always need maintenance. Relative to the same concept above, if the car’s components haven’t received the maintenance it needs, then it won’t be able to perform the actions that the software directs it to, leaving the blame of the accident solely on the owner of the car.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer
In the meantime, if you or someone you know has been in an accident — with or without a self-driving car — be sure to contact a skilled attorney, today for assistance.
