Tort Liability for Autonomous Cars

A colleague asked me about this last week; I confess that I had not considered it.  Now Kyle Colonna has posted his Note to SSRN.  Entitled Autonomous Cars and Tort Liability, the abstract provides:

With the passing of time, cars are becoming more autonomous and independent of human intervention. However, with this shift in control from humans to technology, there also comes a shift in liability. While autonomous cars will eliminate many accidents caused by human error, many others will result due to technological malfunctions. In order to ensure that autonomous cars enter the marketplace in a timely fashion, the liability of autonomous car manufacturers requires mitigation. This Note examines the legal issues surrounding autonomous cars, including tort liability, and proposes a means by which the liability issues surrounding autonomous cars may be fashioned in order to effectuate a timely implementation of autonomous cars in the marketplace.

–CJR