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Autonomous Vehicle Liability Issues: Bower Speaks with Paul W. Smith at SAE World Congress Experience

April 25, 2017

Varnum corporate attorney Matt Bower recently spoke with WJR’s Paul W. Smith during the SAE World Congress Experience in Detroit. The two spoke about how motor vehicle accident liability is likely to change as autonomous vehicles become more prevalent.

Noting that driver error accounts for about 90 percent of auto accidents currently, Bower said accidents in the future are likely to become product liability matters. A likely scenario would be for manufacturers to build those costs into the vehicle purchase price, raising issues such as affordability of safety features. On the plus side, the number and severity of auto accidents is expected to decrease as AVs become the norm.

Bower and Paul W. also spoke about threats to AV technology such as hacking, and if current vehicle technology – with human operators – will go the way of the horse and buggy. Hear more of the conversation on our YouTube channel.

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