Supporters of autonomous vehicles, or self-driving cars, often
claim they will make our roads safer by removing human error from
the driving equation. However, critics of this new technology argue
that the complexity of these machines will increase the potential
for product defects to occur, which may mitigate some of the safety
benefits derived from taking the potential for human error out of
the act of driving a vehicle. One way to conceptualize the product
liability risks that are unique to self-driving vehicles as opposed
to the traditional human-operated vehicle is to think about the
complexity involved in designing and manufacturing an autonomous
vehicle.
In the case of the traditional automobile that is operated the
old-fashioned way, by a driver, the manufacturers face the risk
that the vehicle could be involved in an accident, and the claim
could be made that a defective component of the vehicle failed to
prevent the accident or caused the accident in the
