Study On Tort Liability Of Highly Autopilot Traffic Accidents

With the development of artificial intelligence,the era of automatic driving is coming.In the future,a large number of highly self-driving cars in L3 to L4 stages will occupy our lives.These cars can bring great social and economic benefits,such as reducing traffic accidents,saving labor costs and improving travel convenience.However,due to the limitations of current computer science and sensory hardware,new technologies may also bring new injuries to human beings,thus causing the difficult problem of assuming tort liability for traffic accidents.At present,there is no consensus in the academic circle on how to identify the tort liability for traffic accidents caused by automatic driving.One view is that the liability for road traffic accidents and product liability are sufficient to deal with the legal problems brought about by automatic driving technology.Another view is that the existing rules cannot solve the problem,and in the long run,consideration should be given to giving them legal personality to bear responsibilities independently.This paper holds that the existing rules have great limitations in dealing with the new problems of automatic driving,and it is too radical to endow cars with independent legal personality,which is difficult to obtain theoretical proof of the subject.The compromise is to set up a special type of responsibility for traffic accidents of highly self-driving cars to adapt to the development of technology.This paper attempts to carry out research on this as the center.The full text consists of five parts:The first part lists some cases that have occurred in recent years due to automatic driving technology and the thoughts it brings us.The second part briefly summarizes the concept and characteristics of highly self-driving vehicles,and points out the controversial issues of the subject and type of liability existing in the tort liability of highly self-driving vehicles in traffic accidents.The third part analyzes whether highly self-driving cars can become the main body responsible for traffic accidents.The theory of automobile itself as a legal subject is not sufficient to become a civil subject similar to a natural person or a legal person,and the use of private property of automobile or risk fund to bear the responsibility lacks legitimacy.Therefore,this paper holds a negative attitude towards automobile as a responsible subject.The fourth part first analyzes the possible types of liability for traffic accidents of highly autonomous vehicles,and points out the defects and deficiencies of the existing types of liability.Then,it summarizes the problems such as the difficulty in identifying the faults of the automatic driving technology and the interruption of causal relationship,and puts forward suggestions on establishing special tort liability for traffic accidents of highly automatic driving vehicles,and analyzes the feasibility and necessity of this.The focus of automatic driving should not be limited to whether its product design and structure are perfect,but should be changed to whether its driving itself is reasonable.This change can solve the complicated problems of fault and causal relationship identification,thus saving more cost of proof.On the premise that legal innovation promotes technological innovation,its typed responsibility should adhere to the value concept of people-oriented,strengthen the protection of social and personal safety under the guidance of this value,and give consideration to the role of efficiency in tort law,and distribute responsibilities fairly and reasonably.The fifth part comprehensively discusses the legal construction of tort liability for highly automatic driving vehicles in traffic accidents.Theoretically speaking,highly self-driving cars do not have a dangerous basis.In terms of efficiency,strict liability cannot provide efficient prevention incentives to victims.Therefore,traffic accidents caused by highly self-driving cars should not be subject to strict liability,but should be subject to objective fault liability,which is more consistent with the value of efficiency.Secondly,the new special tort liability focuses on the "reasonable driving standard of automobiles" to judge whether the decision-making and specific performance of automobiles are reasonable,just as we use the reasonable and prudent rational person standard to judge whether human beings are at fault.If the driving of the car does not meet this standard,the producer,seller and driver may be held responsible for violating specific legal obligations.