Research On Tort Liability Law Of Autonomous Driving Vehicle

In recent years,autonomous driving vehicles have led the development trend of the future.As a newly sprouted thing,autonomous driving vehicles have greatly reduced traffic jams since initial stage until now.According to the statistics by experts,the probability of traffic accident will be reduced by about 90%,because the programming of artificial intelligence is set strictly to obey the traffic rules,and will respect the traffic rules more.Also,It will be able to predict pedestrians’ next move so as to avoid accidents.Because it is a newly developed product,the technical development of self-driving cars is still immature and imperfect,tort accidents caused by self-driving cars which already left factory and are put into use brought the existing tort law in China a huge challenge and impact..Our current legislation on the regulation of self-driving cars are based on applying to the tort liability law.Tort liability legislation of self-driving cars is still in its primary stage,in order to cater to the development trend of self-driving cars,we should make well-regulated and well-organized legislations and laws on the base of introducing and learning from previous laws from foreign countries while combining with Chinese characteristics.Foreign countries take the lead in confirming the issues of autonomous driving vehicles in legislation,and the United States is the first to break the blank of legislations in autonomous driving vehicles in the world.The traditional tort law defines the driver of the car as the subject to bear the traffic accident.When the car is driving in the state of automatic driving,the car producer can also be defined as the subject to bear the responsibility.In the Eighth Amendment of the Road Traffic Law of Germany,the traditional subject of infringement is still retained.In legislation,it is stipulated that the owner of the car should take no fault as the principle and the driver should take the fault as the limit.Germany first set up the "black box" technology with the purpose to find out the real liability subject behind the accident.In Japan,producers,operators and insurers are raised to the level of legislation,making them the subject to bear the infringement of autonomous driving vehicles.It is also stipulated that producers should establish a compensation fund to provide more comprehensive and immediate protection for the rights of victims.Traditional tort law can be applied when the self-driving car causes damage to people,the first thing that comes into sight is traffic accident liability.The liability for traffic accidents is based on the principle of fault,and the motor vehicle is liable for drivers,owners and insurance companies.The combination of traditional tort law and product quality law provides a legal basis for the relief of victims.When there is a defect in the product,the provisions of the law for the producer and the consumer are very different,the former to take no fault as the limit,the latter to take the fault as the limit.China should lose no time to bring self-driving cars related problems to the legislative level on the basis of present laws and legislations.This can not only promote the development of automatic driving technology,but also protect the victim’s rights more comprehensively.In order to better adapt to the development trend of self-driving cars and protect the rights of the victim,legislative explanations on related laws should also be timely released to give people a clear direction.If we want to use the black box as evidence to clarify the subject of liability,it must comply with the provisions of the Road Traffic Law,the Tort Liability Law and the product quality.Through the reform of the liability insurance system,it plays an important role in the relief of victims and the analysis of accident tort liability.In order to better solve the infringement dilemma faced by self-driving cars,new legislations should be made and the traditional laws and regulations should be constantly improved as well as a variety of corresponding rules and regulations.Finding the point of balance interests among the drivers,producers and victims can not only protect the victim’s rights but also provide the legal protection for the rapid development of self-driving cars.China should seize the major challenge of the development of autonomous driving vehicles,find a balance between public safety and the development of autonomous driving vehicles,and build new opportunities of autonomous driving vehicles.