Safety Concerns Rise as We Get Closer to the Future of Self-Driving Vehicles

Surely you’ve heard talk about the future of self-driving vehicles, many of which are already being tested on the roads from Salt Lake City to the East Coast. Many are questioning how safe these driver-less cars are going to be when they take over, but maybe the question we should be asking is how safe is safe enough — before they become the standard automotive technology?

Humans make mistakes and are prone to be involved in auto accident situations, but machines are perfect, right? Not always true, but while human error does exist, so do errors in science and engineering. So again, at what point is the self-driving technology safer than human-operated cars?

The biggest concern about safety in the future of driver-less cars is our ability — as humans — to learn how to operate them. Yes, the car is technically “self-operating,” but the concept will be completely new and foreign to a lawyer and drivers in Utah and elsewhere, meaning we must learn how to use it. This alone can create safety issues and increase the chances of an auto accident.

It’s almost impossible to predict how we will respond to the big shift in terms of safety. A lawyer sees a typical auto accident case all the time — but when self-driving cars hit the roads of Salt Lake City or elsewhere, who will beat fault for an auto accident? 

In fact, safety and liability topped the list of topics Americans from Salt Lake City to the East Coast are most concerned about in terms of the future of driverless cars. 

Self-driving car developers such as Google are working to convey that these cars are far safer than human-driver cars. This is where the whole human error concept continues to be brought up. They have continuously explained that the car itself and its track records are going to be what builds safety confidence amongst drivers. 

As for liability, a hot topic of concern, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety predicts that liability will be in the hands of the one who designs the autonomous system. Meaning a lawyer will be going after manufacturers more than drivers in Salt Lake City or elsewhere, so to speak. 

Both the businesses side of things for an insurance company and a lawyer are going to have to heavily adjust to the new laws and regulations that come with the switch to self-driving cars in the future, but so will our overall society. 

Alyssa Koenig is a legal writer for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. Information provided by Robert J Debry. Follow on Twitter.