You could definitely put some blame on the manufacturer, but in legalize you “knew or should have known” that there was a possiblity that your vehicle could hurt or kill someone. You sent it out into the world without a driver in it, not the manufacturer. I wouldn’t be surprised to see warnings and agreements attached to autonomous vehicles telling people that there is risk.
The owner or lesse of the car is responsible. Think of the car as a dog that bit a child.
Are we talking truly autonomous vehicles with no driver, or today’s “self-driving-but-keep-your-hands-on-the-wheel” type cars?
In the case of the former, it should be absolutely the fault of the manufacturer.
You could definitely put some blame on the manufacturer, but in legalize you “knew or should have known” that there was a possiblity that your vehicle could hurt or kill someone. You sent it out into the world without a driver in it, not the manufacturer. I wouldn’t be surprised to see warnings and agreements attached to autonomous vehicles telling people that there is risk.
Say there is a car with no human driver, that is being sold as requiring “no human input other than set destination, stop, and go”.
If that vehicle crashes, you think the person who bought the car (the passenger) has legal liability, and not the manufacturer?
That’s like being a passenger on a bus and getting sued if the bus driver hits a parked car.
The bus company gets sued because they own the bus, not the driver. Same as if you lend your car to someone, you’re at least partially responsible.