UK Says Automakers, Not Drivers, Will Get Blame For Autonomous Accidents

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For the past 138 years since the invention of the car, the blame game has been a simple one. Barring some kind of mechanical problem beyond your control, if your car causes an accident that means you, the driver, gets the blame for the accident. But what happens when you throw autonomous tech into the mix?

That’s a problem the car industry and regulators have been wrestling with for some time, and while some countries’ lawmakers are struggling to agree on a way forward, Britain has come to a conclusion about who should be liable in an accident. The UK has decided that automakers and not ‘drivers’ will be to blame if a self-driving car crashes, Reuters reports.

“While the vehicle is driving itself, a company rather than an individual will be responsible for the way it drives,” the government said.

Britain’s King Charles told lawmakers that the government would introduce an Automated Vehicles Bill that would establish rules covering liability in the event of crash involving autonomous tech and “support the safe commercial development of emerging industries, such as self-driving vehicles.”

Related: Jury Hands Tesla The Win In First US Autopilot Trial Involving Fatality

The news has been warmly received by insurance companies who appreciate the clarity on who carries the can when things go wrong. And tech companies Reuters spoke to said they would now have the confidence to continue investing in R&D in the UK. Firms had warned that Britain might lose out if laws concerning autonomous tech weren’t in place before the country voted in its next government in 2024.

The bill will set protocols for investigating accidents but one of its first jobs will be to define that exactly constitutes a self-driving car. Current Level 2 systems won’t be categorised as autonomous because they still require the driver to be watching the road and ready to take over, but from Level 3 upwards drivers are able to let the car accelerate, brake and steer by itself while they watch Netflix or catch up on emails. While Germany and some U.S. states have approved Mercedes-Benz’s Level 3 Drive Pilot system, it’s not yet legal in the UK.

Last month in the U.S. a court handed Tesla its second courtroom win of the year when a jury determined that the automaker was not liable for injuries caused in a crash that the car’s owner claimed was caused by Autopilot. But in related news, GM’s Cruise autonomous division was forced to remove its fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolts from California roads due to concerns of the safety of the cars’ self-driving tech.