NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — An accident involving a self-driving car, a human-driven car and someone jaywalking in San Francisco highlights concerns about so-called autonomous vehicles nationwide.
Cruise, the company that owned the self-driving car in San Francisco, also has a stock of similar cars that appear ready to go in Nashville.
But with self-driving cars potentially coming to a street near you, what happens if there's an accident here?
"It's a little harder to charge someone with speeding or another criminal infraction when you don't have an actual operator there," said NewsChannel 5 legal analyst Nick Leonardo.
"We haven't tackled this," Leonardo said. "We don't have laws out there to hold someone criminally responsible for a vehicle when you don't have to have an operator for that vehicle."
In the end, Leonardo says fault in self-driving car accidents is more likely to be found in civil court, not criminal.
"I think the answer to all this is the General Assembly imposing very harsh civil penalties for accidents so there's an incentive for corporations to ensure that there isn't an accident," Leonardo said.
We reached out to Cruise about a separate accident this weekend, involving one of its vehicles in Nashville. The company responded:
One of our vehicles, which was not in self driving mode and had a safety driver behind the wheel, was hit by another vehicle at the intersection of 19th & Church. The driver of our vehicle was injured, and there were no passengers. Our driver had a green light, and was hit from the side. The incident pushed our vehicle into a nearby building, and fortunately there were no other people involved.
Safety is at the core of everything we do. We are in touch with our safety driver, who was taken to the hospital and is being kept for observation. We're appreciative of the support and effort by first responders in this incident.
Based on all information available to us, the other driver ran a red light.
