Analysis On The Selection Of The Infringement Liability Mode For Automated Vehicle

Traditional motor vehicle infringement liability mainly includes tort liability and product liability based on human driver’s fault.However,the emergence of self-driving cars has shifted vehicle control from human drivers to self-driving cars,which has caused a huge impact on the traditional motor vehicle infringement system.The traditional motor vehicle infringement liability system could not determine the "fault" and legal responsibility with absence of human drivers.Some scholars have argued that the responsibility for autonomous vehicles should be determined depend on the autonomous levels of vehicles.For high-level self-driving cars,the product responsibility should be borne by the manufacturer.For conditional self-driving cars,the victim should claim traffic accident infringement to the driver and product liability to the manufacturer separately.However,the above opinions do not take into account the difficulties of identifying “defects” in product liability,the high cost of burden of proof,and the time-consuming legal process,neither do they consider the connection with existing traffic accident liability and supporting insurance system,which cannot reflect the unity of various types of motor vehicle tort liability system and the equivalence of victim protection,and should not be the best choice.In the choice of liability mode for autonomous vehicles,it should still base on traffic accidents tort liability.Via the interpretation to Article49 of the Tort Liability Law,the scope of "driver" was extended to the manufacturers of self-driving cars as the legal fiction.If the traffic accident occurs during the operation of the system-controlled vehicle,the autonomous vehicle manufacturer should be liable for the “driver”responsibility.The victims of the traffic accident is not required to bear the burden of proof of product defects.