What Will Self-Driving Car Regulations and Liability Be?

April 07, 2017, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

A recent car accident in Arizona ignited the debate surrounding self driving cars again. The Uber self driving SUV flipped on its side and the resulting high profile car accident got people talking again.  The Uber car flipped onto its side in a Phoenix suburb. Arizona has gone to great lengths to attract Uber by establishing minimal government regulations around self-driving vehicles.

The car, a Volvo SUV, crashed when it was travelling at the speed limit. The traffic light in the intersection that it was in  turned yellow while the Uber car was in the intersection when the oncoming car turned into it. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. The self-driving car was not to blame. The police charged the oncoming car. The Uber car was in autonomous mode at the time.

The fact the Uber car was not to blame in the car accident didn’t seem to matter when the pictures of the Uber car were spreading like wildfire on social media. Uber issued a statement that they briefly suspended their testing in all three of their test locations in Pittsburgh, Arizona and San Francisco.  They are now back on public roads.

Uber has had a few other problems with their self-driving cars in the last year. One ran a red light, while on five other occasions the computer systems failed to recognize traffic lights. Software engineers have been working hard to adjust the software to be able to cope with ‘edge’ issues like bad weather and unusual driving conditions.

In Arizona and Pennsylvania autonomous cars can carry both testers and passengers. There are few other regulations. In California, they must have a $5 million insurance policy and all accidents have a ten-day reporting period. Companies must also submit annual reports indicating how many times the testers had to retake control of the car.

In Ontario there are trials of self-driving cars going on a designated test areas.  MTO calls them AV (automated vehicles) which are “driverless or self-driving vehicles that are capable of detecting the surrounding environment using artificial intelligence, sensors and global positioning system coordinates.”

The cars do not have to display any special permits or plates. The driver/tester of the car must remain in the driver’s seat at all times.

From the MTO website it's stated that:

• his pilot is restricted to testing purposes only;
• The pilot will run for 10 years and include interim evaluations;
• Only vehicles manufactured and equipped by approved applicants are permitted;
• The driver must remain in the driver's seat of the vehicle at all times and monitor the vehicle's operation;
• The driver must hold a full class licence for the type of vehicle being operated;
• Eligible participants must have insurance of at least $5,000,000;
• All current Highway Traffic Act rules of the road and penalties will apply to the driver/vehicle owner; and,
• Vehicles must comply with SAE Standard J3016 and any requirements of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Canada) that apply to automated driving systems for the vehicle's year of manufacture.

For the purposes of Ontario's testing pilot, "automated vehicle" means: a motor vehicle, commercial motor vehicle, or a street car, with an automated driving system that operates at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International driving automation Level 3, 4 or 5.

Those eligible to participate in the pilot include auto manufacturers defined within the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Canada), technology companies, academic and research institutions and a manufacturer of parts, systems, equipment or components for automated driving systems.

For full details of the pilot project, please see Ontario Regulation 306/15.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

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