Document Type : Research Paper

Author

• Nahid Parsa

parsa Ph.d., College law , University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

Abstract

Traditionally, the driver of the car is responsible for the damages caused by the accident. In self-driving and semi-autonomous cars, the term driver has either lost its meaning or has been diluted. The purpose of this article is to examine the civil responsibility of the user and the car against the damages caused by self-driving cars and to answer the question that in compensating for the damages caused by self-driving cars, should the traditional driver still be held responsible or is the virtual driver responsible? Is it possible to impose civil liability on self-driving cars, independent of the driver? Who is responsible in cases where the self-driving car acts based on the theory of deep learning outside the framework of the instructions? This article proceeds with a descriptive-analytical approach and by examining and pondering the rules of civil liability, and after analyzing the issue, it concludes that the driver alone cannot be held responsible in fully automatic levels, and the existing laws are not sufficient for the rights of the victims of driving accidents of self-driving cars, especially in fully automatic levels, and there is a need to amend and change the current laws. One of the novel points of the article is the examination of the combined responsibility of the traditional driver and the virtual driver. It also separates the responsibility of the driver in semi-autonomous and fully autonomous levels and examines the basis of each.
In recent years, the technological innovations of the on-road vehicle industry have been accompanied by dramatic advances in self-driving cars. Automated vehicles offer a host of opportunities for safer roads, reduced travel times, more personalized services and energy efficiency. Of course, there are obstacles that can prevent the spread of self-driving cars. In particular, some limitations have been identified. One of the problems is the current legal framework for road transport, which does not easily accommodate the situation where the car is an autonomous system and lacks a comprehensive and uniform approach to autonomous vehicles.
In Iran, the first phase of the self-driving car project was put into operation in 2014. The following year, the final product was successfully tested. However, following this incident, Naja traffic police chief banned the use of self-driving cars due to the lack of relevant laws and the lack of identification of the person responsible for the possible accidents of these cars. Also, in article 7 of the plan for organizing the automobile industry approved in 2017, it was mentioned to create the necessary platforms for the introduction of new technologies, but this plan has remained at the level of the plan so far. Self-driving cars significantly emphasize the issue of responsibility. There are three main types of liability related to road traffic: civil liability (compensation for damages caused to third parties), criminal liability (being liable for personal injury) and administrative liability (traffic rules). However, self-driving cars present a whole new challenge from a liability perspective. Undoubtedly, liability arising from traffic accidents is the most important part of civil liability. In Iranian law, the civil responsibility of the owner of a land motor vehicle is in the form of a requirement to obtain compulsory third party insurance. Unfortunately, wherever there is a discussion of civil liability in traffic accidents, it has always been confused with insurance issues, while, only, the effects of civil liability are related to the effects of insurance. In the correct situation, the insurance law should be different from the issues of civil liability, rather than looking for the issue of civil liability among insurance rules. In this article, only issues related to how to fulfill the civil responsibility of users and self-driving cars are expressed, and the effects of responsibility are not included in this article.
The emergence of self-driving cars in road traffic on a larger scale will create many problems in various fields, including law. In case of loss of health, life or other injuries, it should be determined who will be responsible? The user, the manufacturer of such a car or its owner? The US Department of Transportation estimates that approximately 94% of accidents on American roads are caused by human error.
If the legal framework does not include any specific requirements for self-driving vehicles, the owner, driver and manufacturer will be subject to the same legal requirements as traditional cars. On the other hand, if the legal framework introduces specific regulations for autonomous vehicles, the traditional requirements of all three mentioned stakeholders may change. Most of the existing regulations affect the production of self-driving cars. However, regulatory changes may also affect owners and drivers. For example, a special driver's license may be introduced for self-driving vehicles. or that the insurance requirements for the owner of an autonomous vehicle be modified in relation to conventional vehicles. Legal solutions require consideration of the degree of responsibility that can be placed on the driver of the self-driving car and the product liability of the self-driving car, although some authors may treat liability homogeneously, for example, some believe that the negligence standard is used in the driverless car as well. Determining how much liability can be held by the human driver or the car manufacturer will be a major challenge in the courts, as the proliferation of self-driving vehicles increases accident rates. Laws on car ownership, road traffic, criminal liability, security, privacy protection and civil liability must be changed. Accelerating regulatory changes becomes necessary, especially as semi-autonomous vehicles are already on the road and involved in traffic accidents.
In the US, there are approximately twenty-nine states that have driverless car laws that address self-driving cars on the road — states like Florida that allow self-driving cars on public roads. allows driving, or Arizona that a negligent driver may be liable for death in a self-driving car accident. However, a common theme among states like Michigan and Nevada is limiting manufacturer liability for self-driving car accidents.
In 2018, a bicyclist collided with an Uber self-driving car in Arizona, sparking questions about how civil liability applies in self-driving car accidents. What happens when a self-driving vehicle crashes into a pedestrian or another driver? Is it the fault of the driver who did not control the car from the beginning? Is this artificial intelligence that caused the accident? Is it the car manufacturer that assembled and supplied the car in a defective manner and is responsible?
  When is the driver allowed to take his hands completely off the steering wheel and when is he allowed to control the car? Should there be limits to what he can do in the car? Additional questions arise from the interaction between driverless and manned cars. Unlike the previous sources, which have only expressed the civil responsibility of the user, without distinguishing between the semi-autonomous levels (where the driver generally maintains his traditional concept) and the fully autonomous level (where the driver loses his traditional concept completely). In this article, these levels are separated and the civil responsibility of the driver is examined at each level, and some sources are satisfied only with a mechanism for compensation without determining the responsibility in self-driving accidents.

Keywords

• Civil Liability
• Car
• Self-driving
• Driver
• Legal Personality

Main Subjects

• Private Law