There’s a race happening in the automobile world, and it’s not a race for the fastest car. It’s a race to see who can get the first driverless car on the market.
Recently, Toyota Motor Co. has entered into an agreement with Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in which it has pledged $50 million dollars to joint research centres located in Silicon Valley and another technology hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is all in an effort to be the first company to have a driverless car on the market. Unfortunately, Toyota already has competition.
As we’ve discussed previously, Google has been working on a fleet of self-driving cars for years now. Its goal is to have the cars capable of driving completely on their own by 2020, notwithstanding the few bumps or rear-end collisions that its cars have had during test drives. Uber has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University on a Pittsburgh research centre in its quest to build driverless cars.
Toyota, more modest in its approach, has decided to instead focus on making their cars more sensitive to their surroundings in an attempt to make their cars “collision-proof.” That said, Toyota has already promised to have collision-prevention technology installed in all its U.S. cars by 2017.
California, where many Google cars are being test driven, makes it illegal for these smart cars to be driven without a human driver inside to take the reins in the event of an accident or if something goes wrong. Still, many of Google’s cars are only being steered by computers with no human present, which could prove dangerous in the event of computer error or malfunction.
Our firm continues to watch with interest to see how driverless cars will influence the legal landscape, and the challenges it will present for apportioning and allocating liability. If you are involved in an accident, speak to a lawyer to understand your rights by booking a free consultation or calling 1-855-446-7765 for immediate assistance. For more information on what you can do to protect your rights, visit our accident lawyer section.
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