A world with autonomous vehicles (AVs) is no longer just a futuristic dream. These vehicles are on the road today in growing numbers. Companies like Tesla, Waymo, General Motors, and Uber are all investing heavily in this technology and testing their vehicles on public roadways. In many instances, consumers are actually able to ride in these vehicles. Personal injury attorneys and engineers are already at the beginning stages of outlining what types of claims are likely to be most common.
Waymo Driverless rideshare vehicles have recently launched in Atlanta, Georgia. As of yet, there has been no AV lawsuit filed within the state. Attorneys are positioning themselves to be pioneers in this area of law. This is particularly important given recent legislative changes. Georgia Senate Bill 219 has defined autonomous vehicles as “drivers.” There is also a great potential for less litigation against human drivers as AV adoption continues to grow.
When there are fewer human drivers on the roadway, there is the real possibility that there will be fewer accidents caused by human negligence, according to personal injury attorney Matt Kahn. “With legislative changes to the offer and acceptance statute, we’re going to be seeing a lot less litigation involving human-on-human car wrecks,” Kahn told Law.com. “So we’re looking forward to the future.” As services like Waymo continue to expand all across Georgia, it’s clear that the future is in litigating AV accident cases.
Certain aspects of AV litigation will be fairly straightforward. But there is much to be determined. In particular, the defendants will be obvious, but the claims against those defendants likely may not be. Some attorneys are suggesting that personal injury firms should focus on ordinary negligence and product liability claims. There are, however, some key challenges to pursuing product liability claims.
Matt Kahn is less concerned that educating a jury would be an insuperable obstacle for any litigation involving AVs. He said that Butler Kahn has excelled at taking complex ideas and making them understandable and simple for a jury. One of the ways that this can be accomplished is through the use of animations.
Michael DeKort is a former system engineer at Lockheed Martin. He has become well known for posting whistleblowing videos related to how Lockheed Martin’s handled a certain job with the United States Coast Guard. He is now encouraging lawyers to focus their attention on pursuing gross negligence and fraud claims with respect to AV litigation.
DeKort said that current AVs have a number of challenges and limitations that could give rise to legal challenges. In particular, there are inadequacies in the way that the technology is able to learn through simulating real-world scenarios.
According to DeKort, “In order to learn how to avoid crashes, [AVs] have to experience either the crash or [get] so close to the crash event that the human can’t disengage.” “Tesla has camera only. Camera only is a grossly negligent approach to sensors in this area … because cameras have issues with light and weather, and they don’t distance actively,” DeKort continued.
He also sees the potential for attorneys to pursue fraud claims. He is concerned that the approach Tesla is taking will never produce a driverless vehicle that is competent.
As autonomous vehicle programs continue to expand across Georgia, Butler Kahn is committed to ensuring that accident victims have access to skilled legal representation. Our legal team remains at the forefront of this litigation and is prepared to help if you’ve been injured by an AV. We have continued to achieve some of the highest verdicts and settlements for injury victims across the state of Georgia. Whether you just have legal questions or need any type of support after a collision, we are here for you. You can reach out to us anytime at 678-940-1444.
