Self-driving cars have become more common in the last few years, and many people are aware of Google’s fleet of vehicles that have been seen on California roadways. However, several other car manufacturers have gotten on the autonomous vehicle bandwagon, including Volvo, Tesla and Mercedes-Benz.
The Mercedez-Benz S550 has semiautonomous driving capabilities, and Volvo is expected to start making XC90 SUVs, which are self-driving, available in 2017. One reason that self-driving cars are getting so much attention, aside from how interesting they are, is that it is reported that over 90 percent of car accidents are due to driver error. In theory, self-driving cars could nearly eliminate automobile accidents.
However, there still are a few collisions that are not due to human error, and a question of who is liable for these crashes has come up. While it seems silly to fault a car, which is essentially a robot, for an accident, automotive manufacturers have generally said that they will take responsibility for the few crashes that may occur in circumstances where a crash is unavoidable. An example of this would be when there are cars stopped in front of someone and the only option for avoiding them is to drive on to a sidewalk filled with pedestrians.
Whether an person’s carelessness or a self-driving car are the blame for a collision, a person who has been injured in a car crash is likely to have to deal with medical bills and, in some cases, lost wages. A personal injury attorney can be of assistance to an injured victim by pinpointing the party or parties who should be held financially responsible for these losses through a review of the official accident investigation report and other evidence.
