A cabby writes:-

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/10999149/Driverless-cars-heading-onto-British-roads-in-2015.html

 

The worms will be truly out of the can when this starts.

 

Is there any guidance available yet on what the overall legal situation will be ?

 

 

Nick

I'm interested in how insurance will work.

 

Who gets the blame when the car hits something?

 

I know it says the driver should be able to override, but I imagine its going to be extremely difficult to take control if you don't know its doing something stupid until the very last second.

Anyone else wondering what happens when the local neds catch on, and start making tinfoil hats for the sensor turrets?

 

 

 

Can it cope with this I wonder

 

 

 

I'm interested in how insurance will work.

 

Who gets the blame when the car hits something?

 

I know it says the driver should be able to override, but I imagine its going to be extremely difficult to take control if you don't know its doing something stupid until the very last second.

From what the article said, this car can be operated without a driver (Even If ther is a "Driver", he is, effectively, just a minder ). So, presumably, someone sets up a destination, passengers get in, and the "Go" button is pressed. In the fullness of time, given the capabilities of modern technology, all of that, even pushing the "Go" button. could be done from a remote location, with the appropriate authority and permissions.

 

Who will be the driver for Road Traffic purposes - the company that wrote the car management algorhythm ? I would imagine that  Software designers will have to acquire more extensive public liability insurance than they have at present. And liability for an accident will be even more hotly contested than current Road Traffic Cases, because of the automatic "Group action" consequences of any legal decision. And the envitable will happen and there will be a court case in which human judgement will be set against artificial intelligence and a qualitative judgement made.  

 

And if a software designer feels unduly aggrieved by a decision he may have the opportunity to appeal to a European Court of Robotic Rights ? And, if the car is made a legal entity, it would acquire the same right of appeal ?

 

And if the control system involves partial human authority with variable hand-over points . . .

 

All good stuff.

 

Nick

Edited 30 July, 201411 yr by Clunkclick

Driving in snow and/or ice could be fun - I wonder if the car can predict the handling in those circumstances...

One wonders whether the software is equipped with some overriding human protection principal as embodied in Assimov's First Law of Robotics ? Or. come to that, its not clear whether the system can detect human kind and living creatures as distinct from other objects in its field of view and afford them different treatment ?

 

Doubt it ?

 

You can imagine the entries in the attending Constable's notebook - worse than the record of an inner London Cycling accident ?

 

Surely, the law would have to ensure that this requirement was written into a software license issued by the Department Of Transport before you can even begin to operate such a system.

 

Knowing this lot though, they'll probably just categorise it as an "Automatic" and get it through under existing Type Approval.

 

 

Nick

Edited 30 July, 201411 yr by Clunkclick

Yeah, snow will be interesting. At the very least it can't see the lines on the road or the edges.

 

How will it handle a police officer's hand signals?

 

Will it stop at a zebra crossing if someone is waiting? If it doesn't, who picks up the fine?

I recall that in earlier times, when faced with a lesser hazard, it was deemed necessary to have a bloke with a red flag . . . walking in front.

 

 

Nick

Unusually, the major motoring organisations AA, RAC, IAM, and the government seem to be quiet on this issue - no discussion papers, no consultative documents, nuffink. They are usually so proactive.

 

Only thing I could find :-

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/13/should-robot-cars-be-prog_n_5314843.html

 

And the vehicle is being developed by a firm in Oxford . . . .

 

Transparency "Nil points" as Katie used to say.

 

 

Nick

Edited 30 July, 201411 yr by Clunkclick

Trouble is, I'm prejudiced, when I think "Electronic Brain" in a car, I think Skoda Fabia ECU, Skoda Fabia Air Conditioning controls (Where cold = anything between liquid nitrogen to scorching and Vicky verky, Skoda Fabia electric window controls (Push for drivers side and passenger side operates - randomly) and  the Monday morning assembly line on some Eastern European car factory, where the bloke whose supposed to connect up the 12 v and  5v lines to the AI unit in 10 standard seconds has had a row with his girlfriend before starting shift . . . .

 

Not good, is it ?

 

 

Nick

Edited 30 July, 201411 yr by Clunkclick

...but I like driving.

Trouble is, I'm prejudiced, when I think "Electronic Brain" in a car, I think Skoda Fabia ECU, Skoda Fabia Air Conditioning controls (Where cold = anything between liquid nitrogen to scorching and Vicky verky, Skoda Fabia electric window controls (Push for drivers side and passenger side operates - randomly) and  the Monday morning assembly line on some Eastern European car factory, where the bloke whose supposed to connect up the 12 v and  5v lines to the AI unit in 10 standard seconds has had a row with his girlfriend before starting shift . . . .

 

Not good, is it ?

 

 

Nick

 

And then there are French electrical systems!

Would bring a very literal meaning to "Blue Screen Of Death"