“We only see what we know.”-Goethe (Stefan Aug. Doinas trad.)
Itushree Biswas is a student of 3rd year BBALLB, Christ (Deemed to be University), Delhi, NCR.
Introduction
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming the foremost in this technological world we live-in today, and it is essential for development[1]. As it is within the ambit of AI, autonomous vehicles constitute one of the emerging socio-technical innovations in the transportation sector which will revolutionize motorized mobility in the future times.
There is convincing data that demonstrates how AI technology, including drones and city brains, has advanced recently. The simplest and most obvious fear is the potential harm caused by the equipment if it runs amok. Asimov believed that the general public’s perception of autonomous artificial intelligence was deteriorating, with people fretting about being hurt or worse when AI completely supplanted humans[2]. After all, the robots are not people, mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul[3].
Process of AI cars acquiring automation
In autonomous vehicles, there are five different levels of automation:
- Stage 1: The initial stage during which the vehicle has little autonomy over its operations and is driven by a human.
- Stage 2: The stage where in some circumstances, the Advance Driving Assistance System (ADAS) can manage steering, accelerating and breaking, human driver is still expected to maintain an entire attention to the driving environment during the voyage, in addition to manage the other required responsibility.
- Stage 3: In this stage, ADAS (Advance Driving Assistance System) can complete all aspects of the driving duty under some circumstances, but human driver is still necessary to take control when ADAS asks for it and completes all the necessary remaining tasks in the demanding situation.
- Stage 4: The second-to-last stage, where in certain situations where no human interventions are necessary, the vehicle ADAS (Advance Driving Assistance System) is capable of doing all driving tasks alone.
- Stage 5: The foremost stage which involves full automation, wherein the vehicle ADAS (Advance Driving Assistance System) is capable of doing all jobs in all circumstances and no human driver help is needed.[4]
Here, the question of legal responsibility for the fully autonomous car arises. Who is then held accountable in law for the fully automatic car ? Can the automated car assume the defence of “automatism” in the event of an accident while under the direction of an Advance Driving Assistance System?
Concentrating on the term “Automatism” which is an exception to Section 39 of Indian Penal Code which defines ‘Voluntary’. Automatism is a description of an event that does not amount to an offence because the acts were not voluntary and also when a particular act is committed during a state of “unconsciousness” or when consciousness is significantly diminished yet there is no malice aforethought[5]. This can be a defence in court in relation to road traffic incidents whereby a person cannot be held responsible for their actions if they were not ‘conscious’. But in the context of automated vehicles, when the Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS) gains control, it becomes unclear, who should be held liable if the automatism defence may be invoked. The more autonomous robots are, the less they can be considered simple tools in the hands of other actors. One of the primary goals in this field is to replicate human intelligence in machines.
Liability for Accidents caused by Self-Driven Cars
On Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 9:58am, a Volvo powered Uber test vehicle travelling north on Mill Avenue struck a forty-nine year old woman. The fatal crash caused by the self-driven test vehicle was the result of a software fault. The system software of the automated car classified the pedestrian as an unknown object[6].
The more autonomous system operate, the more they will create their own frameworks and norms for assessment, and the challenges will be to answer the responsibility question[7],which can lead to mistreatment of self-driven vehicles by their owners or their parent companies and that they can justify themselves on the ground of Automatism.
It will be exceedingly challenging to resolve the liability issue as well, particularly if the vehicle is entirely software-driven. Unfortunately, there is no clear answer when it comes to who will be accountable in the event of a self-driven car. In different instances, a manufacturer may claim that the incident was caused by a hacker attack or software problems. To address these situations some people argue for the strict liability rules against the driver or the manufacturers to handle the circumstances, which would hold the entity legally liable for the results even in the absence of any fault or criminal intent.
Importantly, if considering the current issue with accident involving autonomous vehicles, the driver is going to be held accountable, if they fail to regain the control of the vehicle in a timely manner or if they intent exploit it. Since this type of system is “conditional automation”, it does not totally depend upon its sensors and rely on the driver who fully understand their legal duty to monitor the automated system, and hence eliminating the defence of automatism argument[8].
[1] Ransford A. Acheampong, ‘An Examination of User Adoption Behaviour of Autonomous Vehicle and Urban Sustainability Implications’ (2019) 41 Transportation Research Procedia 187
[2] Federico Cugurullo, ‘Fear of AI: an inquiry into the adoption of autonomous cars in spite of fear, and a theoretical framework for the study of artificial intelligence technology acceptance’ (2023) Embedding AI in Society 1261
[3] Baird Searles,’On Books’ in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction (ed), The Knight And Knave Of Swords (Bridge Publications Inc. 1990)
[4] ‘The Evolution of Automated Safety Technologies’ (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S Department of Transportation Sept 2016) https://www.nhtsa.gov/technology-innovation/automated-vehicles-safety accessed 4 August 2023
[5] ‘Automatism as a defence to Motoring Allegations’ (Regan Peggs Solicitors) https://www.reganpeggs.com/automatism-as-a-defence-to-motoring-allegations accessed 6 August 2023
[6] Liisa Janssens, ‘A Prospect of the Future how Autonomous Systems may Qualify as Legal Persons’ (2018) Being Profiled: Cogitas Ergo Sum 116.
[7] Muhammed Uzair, ‘Who Is Liable When a Driverless Car Crashes?’ 2021 World Electr. Veh 62.
[8] ibid
[1] Ransford A. Acheampong, ‘An Examination of User Adoption Behaviour of Autonomous Vehicle and Urban Sustainability Implications’ (2019) 41 Transportation Research Procedia 187
[2] Federico Cugurullo, ‘Fear of AI: an inquiry into the adoption of autonomous cars in spite of fear, and a theoretical framework for the study of artificial intelligence technology acceptance’ (2023) Embedding AI in Society 1261
[3] Baird Searles,’On Books’ in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction (ed), The Knight And Knave Of Swords (Bridge Publications Inc. 1990)
[4] ‘The Evolution of Automated Safety Technologies’ (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S Department of Transportation Sept 2016) https://www.nhtsa.gov/technology-innovation/automated-vehicles-safety accessed 4 August 2023
[5] ‘Automatism as a defence to Motoring Allegations’ (Regan Peggs Solicitors) https://www.reganpeggs.com/automatism-as-a-defence-to-motoring-allegations accessed 6 August 2023
[6] Liisa Janssens, ‘A Prospect of the Future how Autonomous Systems may Qualify as Legal Persons’ (2018) Being Profiled: Cogitas Ergo Sum 116.
[7] Muhammed Uzair, ‘Who Is Liable When a Driverless Car Crashes?’ 2021 World Electr. Veh 62. [8] ibid