How Will the Claims Process Work if Driverless Cars Collide?

December 23rd, 2015  |  Auto

There’s no solid answer at this moment. As technology giants like Google Inc. develop cars that can drive themselves, legal firms speculate on how driverless cars will affect the claims process. In particular, who should be held liable if two driverless cars crash into one another?

Bloomberg Business interviews several legal experts in an effort to address these issues. After all, driverless technology may saturate the roads sooner rather than later. Torontonians, for example, are already eager to test vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities.

However, the excited public needs to think about the risks posed by driverless cars. Yes, there’s a lot of talk about how driverless vehicles will eliminate human error, reduce accidents, and lower premiums. But this technology is still very new. In the same way that a computer can crash, an autonomous car can crash too.

So who has to pay for a driverless car collision? Legal experts say that because of the absence of human drivers, a bevy of other involved parties, like programmers and computer companies, could be held liable. If their driverless car causes an accident, Google, Volvo Cars, and Mercedes-Benz have reportedly vowed to accept liability. However, placing fault on companies rather than on car owners isn’t exactly typical practice at the moment.

In the very near future, Canada will have to plan for driverless cars and the changes they may demand of the claims process.

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