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Thursday, March 22, 2018

Insurance Industry Asks: Who Is Liable When Uber Self-Driving Cars Cause Fatal Accidents?

Legal analysts are grappling with a new liability issue after Uber’s autonomous car accident this week led to the death of a pedestrian.

A self-driving Uber vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian in Arizona this week, raising new questions about liability in accidents involving autonomous vehicles.

On Sunday, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg was struck by a self-driving Uber car traveling at approximately 40 miles per house. Herzberg was walking her bicycle outside the crosswalk on a four-lane road in a suburb of Phoenix.

Some legal experts say that lawsuits will be aimed at the software responsible for the autonomous driving. Attorneys will likely look to see if a flaw in the self-driving software was responsible for the accident.

Smith argued that Uber is likely to settle litigation over injuries or deaths caused by self-driving vehicles quickly in order to avoid negative publicity.

It was revealed this week that the transgender woman behind the wheel of the self-driving car was Rafaela Vasquez, who was hired by Uber to monitor the self-driving car trials. Vasquez has two felony convictions and served a five-year sentence for an attempted armed robbery in the past.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Govt & Uber > Obviously !!!! so NO Self Driv Vehicles !!

Anonymous said...

Self driving cars is a stupid idea.

Anonymous said...

That's a dumb question!

Anonymous said...

They make us pay for uninsured drivers watch them make us pay for robot drivers.

Anonymous said...

As you cling to your old ways and beliefs, the world passes you by and you are left behind. Look around at your local economy.

Anonymous said...

"...Uber car traveling at approximately 40 miles per house..."

How fast is that in terms humans can understand?

Anonymous said...

Many of us embrace technology however the burden of liability with auto insurance should not be the people who already pay for the potential of other drivers negligence. It should fall into a totally separate rating and premium base. Autonomous vehicles have been on the map for discussion by insurers since their inception. They still have not quite figured out how to mitigate the risk. Currently the test vehicles are falling under the corporations liability policy. Will you be ok with a $100 per month premium increase because of autonomous vehicles being introduced to the public sector? I'm not.

Anonymous said...


"...Uber car traveling at approximately 40 miles per house..."


I think that's called autocorrect.