Introduction:
Autonomous cars have a great potential in improving road transportation. These cars have the ability to reduce traffic and so on for a safer and better ride by means of roadways of transportation.
It’s good to see how far technology has come into achieving this. A car that can be driven without any human contact and that it can reduce many manmade accidents is appreciable. Often we see that the more a country gets technologically advanced, the more it develops. And autonomous cars make a way for this statement.
But, we must also take some complications into consideration: there could be high technology costs, or some technical glitches that could occur during the functioning of these cars, people might lose their jobs creating a dent in an already imbalanced job to population ratio.
What are autonomous cars?
An autonomous car is a vehicle capable of sensing its environment and operating without human involvement. A human passenger is not required to take control of the vehicle at any time, nor is a human passenger required to be present in the vehicle at all. An autonomous car can go anywhere a traditional car goes and do everything that an experienced human driver does.[1]
But for a vehicle to be determined to be an “autonomous” it must be able to navigate without a human being’s help or assistance. The autonomous car must be on its own and be able to travel to a determined destination with being fully aware of the road and surroundings.
How do autonomous cars work?
AI technologies power self-driving car systems. Developers of such cars use vast amounts of data from image recognition systems along with machine learning and neural networks to build systems that can drive autonomously. The neural networks identify patterns in data, which is fed to machine learning algorithms. The data includes images from cameras on self-driving cars which the neural network learns to identify traffic lights, trees, curbs, pedestrians, street signs, and other parts of any given driving environment.[2]
The Motor Vehicle Act, 1988
The motor vehicles act was passed in the year 1988 and regulated almost all aspects of road transport vehicles. It provides detailed guidelines on licensing of the drivers and conductors, registration of motor vehicles, the provision on controlling their permits, traffic regulations related to insurances, liabilities, and penalties. [3]
The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019
According to the 2018 report of WHO, the highest number of road accidents occur in India, compared to other countries. As per the report of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in 2017; there are about 5 lakh road accidents in India every year in which 1.5 lakh are killed. So to prevent the menace of road accidents, the central government has amended the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 by the Motor Vehicles (amendment) act which was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 23, 2019, and by Rajya Sabha on July 31, 2019.[4]
It’s the same act with a little important and necessary changes including, higher penalties, an increase in punishments, and stricter enforcement methods.
Ethical Issues
Automated cars need no human assistance. But there may come a time when the car, unfortunately, possesses some sort of technical glitch or failure in the engine or important parts of the car and no longer becomes safe for it to be driving on its own. In such situations, if a human driver is present, he might crash into an open area or thinks of a way to either stop the car or if there isn’t any other way, then to crash in an open field. But that may not be possible with an autonomous car, which does not have human thinking capacity.
If an autonomous vehicle makes a mistake, it could directly lead to the loss of a life. In these scenarios, who decides who lives and how those decisions are made become very important. Researchers have been grappling with this notion for years. The trolley problem was proposed by the philosopher Phillipa Foot in 1967 and was proliferated into many variants. Generally, it is used to assess what decisions people would make when asked to take any action that would, for example; kill one person v kill 10.[5]
Legal Implications
The German government has taken the initiative in terms of automated driving. On June 21st, 2017 new regulation for automated driving came into force. Consequently, Germany is the first country to regulate automated driving within a legal framework.
But then again, drivers are still required as there are no provisions mentioned at an international level regarding the procedure of working autonomous cars.
At the international level, several agreements specify the legal framework for national road traffic legislation. One of the most important is the Vienna Convention on road traffic. In 1968 automated systems have not been developed yet and consequently, no framework was defined accordingly. Back then regulations assumed the vehicle is controlled by human drivers. So autonomous driving is still not permissible as the agreement specifies human drivers.[6]
The stand-in India is however different.
There are chances that when autonomous cars make a way in India, the existing huge population might lose their jobs making many jobless. And Indian government is apprehensive about these kinds of job losses due to automation.
There are also complex regulatory, legal, and privacy issues that AV’s will pose that will need to be reckoned with. The Indian Motor Vehicles Act 1988 and the rules that regulate the operation of vehicles in India do not currently allow fully automated systems. [7]
The most critical aspect in allowing AV’s is the apportionment of liability. Who will be liable? None of the investigations, including in the recent Tesla and Uber cases in the US have conclusively ruled on the liability issue. In India, current laws provide for ‘no-fault liability’ of the owner or the insurance company if an accident results in death or permanent disablement. [8]
With driverless cars, it is a word of concern as to who the faulty is. Is it the manufacturer? Or the faulty code writer? Or was it a cyber attack, which tampered the AV.
In India, there a vast population that survives its livelihood by earning through the way of driving. And the launch of AVs will not only have legal effect but also will take away the livelihood of the majority of them.
Conclusion
It is good to see how far technological advancements have been achieved. Most of them being the positive side of normal human routine, autonomous cars could be of great efficiency and work. In the time where the world is getting a little lazy due to technology, autonomous cars will be an amazing add on.
Autonomous cars definitely do serve a greater purpose; technological advancement. In order to make this concept a success, proper laws must be put forward. International legal framework must be involved in making laws for autonomous cars, their ethical issues, who would be liable if there happens to be a mishap, etc. also countries adapting to AV’s must set an example as to how useful these cars can be.
If at all India welcomes AV’s, then it must make sure to be legally fit to operate these cars and also make sure the jobs of 4 million drivers are secured.
[1] Synopsis “what is an autonomous car”
[2] Margaret Rouse, Ben Lutkevich, Bridget Botelho, “self driving cars (autonomous or driverless cars) tech target.
[3] Digit
[4] Hemanth Singh, “motor vehicles (amendment) act 2019 and key features” (September 5th 2019, 11:32 IST).
[5] Ruden Snell, “rise of autonomous vehicles and why ethics matter” (2nd April 2019).
[6] “Automated and autonomous driving: legal framework”, Daimler.
[7] Nishta Saxena, “do autonomous vehicles have a future in India?” the blue circle (August 31st 2019)
[8] Swetha Dwiwedi, Rabindra Jhunjhunwala, “opinion: the future of autonomous vehicles in India-steering the legal issues”. Auto.com (July 14 2018, 13:38, IST)
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