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Are Driverless Cars Coming To A Philly Auto Dealership Near You

A great number of car accidents here in Philadelphia occur due to driver error or negligence. Drunk driving, distracted driving and fatigued driving lead to injuries and death every day in this country. In an effort to make driving safer, automakers are continuing to work to eradicate the biggest peril of driving: the human driver.

Google as well as a number of car companies are making strides in developing self-driving cars. Google has said that it believes autonomous vehicles could be on the market in as soon as five years, while others say that we may have to wait until the 2020s for vehicles to take hold of their own wheels. While the technology of self-driving cars is very interesting, lawmakers and others appear to be worried about a number of legal issues they may present.

Currently, in the aftermath of a car accident those who are injured can hold negligent drivers responsible with a personal injury claim. This is a way to obtain compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, property damage and more. So, if the cars are driverless, who would be liable when accidents do occur?

Of course, self-driving cars have been designed as a means of reducing dangerous car accidents, but one would think that they would still occur from time to time.

In 2009, RAND Corporation performed a study to determine some of the legal risks of autonomous driving. It found that there would be two potential ways of changing liability laws. The first option is to require courts to consider the many benefits of driverless cars when deciding to punish automakers for any technology malfunctions. The second option is to limit the rights of motorists to file lawsuits when driverless technologies fail to prevent accidents. These options seem to help automakers, but they may do little to provide for those who incur steep medical expenses and other costs after being injured in a car accident.

The future of driverless cars and evolving liability laws remains to be seen. It is important to prevent car accidents, but it is also necessary for victims of any accidents caused by negligence to have a means of legal recourse.

Source: The Economist, “Look, no hands,” April 20, 2013