Technical, Legal, and Economic Risks

Abstract

AbstractIn the following chapter the author traces the technical improvements in vehicle safety over recent decades, including new sensor technologies with image recognition and Artificial Intelligence, factoring in growing consumer expectations. Through Federal Court of Justice rulings on product liability and economic risks, he depicts requirements that car manufacturers must meet. For proceedings from the first idea until development to sign-off, he recommends interdisciplinary, harmonized safety and testing procedures. He argues for further development of current internationally agreed-upon standards including tools, methodological descriptions, simulations, and guiding principles with checklists. These will represent and document the practiced state of science and technology, which has to be implemented technically suited and economically reasonable. Dilemma situations have always served to clarify ethical and legal principles, such as in the famous example of the so-called “trolley case”. The answer of the law is clear: the killing of a human being with the intention of saving others from certain death may be excused in a concrete case, but it remains illegal in any case. The solution is to avoid accidents at any rate by adapting and forward-looking driving. Relevant maneuvers of driving robots have to be defined and assessed for example using accident data and virtual methods. Further investigation of real driving situations in comparison with system specifications with tests on proving grounds, car clinics, field tests, human driver training or special vehicle studies are recommended. For the required exchange of information, storage of vehicle data and possible criminal attacks protective technical measures are necessary.