Some of the leaders in autonomous cars have made a big step towards to bring their self-driving vehicles to market.
Development of autonomous driver systems continues at a fevered pace around the industry, but regulatory questions such as who would be at fault in an accident are still unanswered. Volvo, Google and Mercedes have now all said that they will accept full liability if their self-driving vehicles cause a collision.
Volvo’s CEO, Håkan Samuelsson, will announce the decision when he speaks in Washington D.C. on Thursday. He will also speak on the broader topic of what it will take to get self-driving cars into the hands of the public. “The U.S. risks losing its leading position due to the lack of federal guidelines for the testing and certification of autonomous vehicles,” Samuelsson said. “Europe has suffered to some extend by having a patchwork of rules and regulations. It would be a shame if the U.S. took a similar path.”