The thought of being chartered across the city by a knight-rider-esque car that knows how to make the perfect coffee, whilst catching up on Match of the Day sounds incredible and is certainly the end goal for a number of technology companies who are taking a lead in the field of driverless vehicles (perhaps not the bit about coffee, but a collaboration in this space would be welcomed).
Currently Google are testing out their autonomous vehicle programme in California; Uber are conducting similar tests in San-Francisco and the likes of Tesla and Nissan are also key players testing out driverless technology. These tests have not been without fault, with Tesla recording the first fatality in a driverless car last year and hackers (in a controlled experiment) demonstrating their ability to commandeer a car from quite a distance.
Just like Blockchain technology is looking to disrupt the world of banking and digital currencies it would appear that driverless cars are also set to make significant waves in the legal and regulatory landscape of the motoring, technology and insurance sectors.
Assuming that driverless cars do become mainstream technology and are widely accepted across the board, the legal implications will lead lawyers into unchartered territories. A few questions and scenarios will need to be addressed by regulators and legislators.
The technology is still in its infancy and it is not likely that cars will become driverless overnight. It is likely that the autonomous nature of the technology will gradually start to appear in new cars, and for the foreseeable future at least will require human input and attention. It is definitely worth following how this area of the law develops.
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