Forum: The General Assembly 6th Committee — Legal Issue

Introduction

Considering that vehicle manufacturers forecast an introduction of autonomous cars to be on the market by 2019, with more than 10 million on roads a year later, one can understand the increased concern revolving around the legal ambiguities and liability issues related with driverless cars and other automated driverless vehicles. Work on automated cars has been ongoing since the late 1920s, with the first self-sufficient and truly autonomous vehicle appearing in 1980. Since 2013, four U.S. states have passed laws permitting autonomous cars. Furthermore, European cities are planning to operate transport systems for driverless cars. Countries like Germany, the Netherlands and Spain have allowed the testing of robot cars. As driverless cars are able to rely on complex algorithms to predict the movements of other animate or inanimate objects, they are able to react accordingly. Some even consider the use of driverless cars as a step towards an improvement in road safety. However, companies, which are developing in the technology of driverless cars, admit that there will inevitably be accidents due to the use of driverless cars, especially once they are common on the market. Moreover, there are still conflicts in terms of the legality and liability of automated driverless vehicles, making it impertinent that these gaps are closed before the automated vehicles enter the market.

Definition of Key Terms

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTSA) an automated or autonomous vehicles in one that operates without the redirect input of a driver; acceleration, the control of the steering, braking etc.

The state of being responsible for something, such as an accident, especially by the law.

History

The autonomous vehicle

In the 1860s the first self-propelled torpedo was tested, later followed by sailboats, which likely to be the first-self-propelled vehicles with a form of automated steering as the auto-tiller. Moreover, just a decade after the invention of the aeroplane, it became its first autopilot. However, experiments on the first autonomous car only began in the 1920s. In the 1980s there was a boom in technology; autonomous vehicles were placed into the centre of attention as projects started quickly in 1984. Since then many major automobile companies and research organisations have been working on the final product of a fully autonomous car that can enter the public market. Now in the 21^st century serious investments have been made: in August 2016 Singapore launched the first self-driving taxi serves and on the 4^th of June 2017, Audi stated that its new A8 will be fully self-driving for the speeds up to 60km/h.

Key Issues

Legal ambiguities

Currently, there is little evidence of nations passing concrete laws on the usage of autonomous vehicles. Conflicts already start with the of alcohol consumption behind the wheel of an autonomous vehicle.

There is a need for the existence of liability laws in order to identify the appropriate remedies for damage and injury. Currently, insurance industries see greater proportions of commercial and product liability lines, as there is a decrease in personal automobile insurance. However, classification remains unclear.

Major Parties Involved and Their Views

General Motors (GM)

In 2016, GM spent approximately $581 million to acquire the start-up of automated vehicles; building a new research and development facility, adding another 1,100 new jobs to the project. Currently, there are rumours that GM is aiming to bring the first automated vehicles to the market in 2018.

In February 2017, Ford had announced that it was going to invest $1 billion into the robotics company Argo AI in order to create a fully autonomous vehicle. Predictions have been set for the vehicle to enter the market in 2021.

Even though Hyundai is working on self-driving vehicles, it is currently focused on the affordability of their cars once they enter the market. Currently, they are targeting a release on the highway in 2020, followed by urban driving in 2030.

A few years ago, Tesla was working on the hardware needed in order to bring the self-driving capabilities of the vehicle to the maximum. Now, the company is constantly involved in creating new updates to its vehicle’s software in order to improve safety. It is predicted that the first autonomous vehicle will be on the market in 2017.

BMW has begun a high-profile collaboration with Intel and Mobileye to develop an autonomous vehicle. Officially, the goal is to achieve “highly and fully automated driving into series production by 2021”.

Timeline of Relevant Resolutions, Treaties and Events

Date	Description of event
2004-2007	DARPA Grand Challenge was held as an autonomous driving competition with millions of dollars in prize money.
2010	VIAX Challenge saw four autonomous vehicles drive from Italy to China on a 100-day journey with limited human intervention. Longest-ever made journey at the time.
August 2012	Google test fleet of autonomous vehicles had manged to drive 480,000 km with no machine-cause accidents.
February 2013	University of Oxford unveiled the Robot Car UK Project; an inexpensive car that would be able to switch between manual driving and autopilot on learned routes.
2015	Apple electric car project with autonomous driving launched. Uber announced a partnership with Carnegie Mellon to develop its own autonomous vehicle.
23 March 2016	Amendment to the 1968 Vienna Convention on the Road Traffic.

Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue

Currently, there haven’t been many long-term attempts to resolve the issue; ECOSOC has made amendments on the resolution on the road traffic safety and insurance companies are working towards improved liability procedures. Nonetheless, there remain complications in the process with various ambiguities.

Possible Solutions

First of all, it is of upmost importance to find a solution in order to reduce all legal ambiguities and liability issues, which create uncertainty amongst potential consumers. Moreover, further solutions to consumer and public security must be put in place in order to reduce potential risks of exploitation.