Autonomous vehicles liability regime in EU, the US, and other legal systems

Conference at the UIA 68th annual Congress, Paris, 2024

• Vienna Convention on Road Traffic adopted by the UN on 08/11/1968 (except in the US/Canada and China)
• Full autonomous vehicles recognized by the amendment to article 34 bis dated 21/01/2022
• Specific regulations may apply depending the car’s automation level

6 levels of driving automation according to the Society of Automotive Engineers’ standards:

• level 0: no automation 
• level 1: driver assistance
• level 2: partial automation 
• level 3: conditional automation 
• level 4: high automation 
• level 5 full autonomy 

• When cars are not fully self-autonomous (SAE automation levels 0 to 3), drivers remains liable for negligence under a fault-based liability system (the US) or a strict liability system (most EU countries) with possible concurrent liability 
• When vehicles are fully autonomous (SAE automation levels 4 and 5), drivers should no longer be liable for negligence (the US) or strictly in their quality of « driver » (most of EU). Instead, liability should lie only in those involved in the automated driving systems under negligence, product liability or strictly as a driver. (See, e.g., Nilsson v. General Motors.)

• Liability for road traffic accidents may shift to the various players in the industry of autonomous vehicles (car maker, software designer, component supplier, road maintainer…)
• Some auto liability insurance may also apply regardless of the driver’s liability (under French law, the Automated and Electric Vehicles act of 2018 in the UK)