Research On Civil Liability Determination Of Autonomous Vehicle Traffic Accidents

The Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China promulgated in 2021(hereinafter referred to as the Civil Code)has compiled "liability for traffic accidents of motor vehicles" originally under Chapter 6 of the Tort Liability Law in Chapter 5 of the seventh title "Tort Liability".However,it is not difficult to find that the new provisions of the Civil Code attempt to solve many problems related to the identification of the subject of responsibility in special circumstances by enumeration.However,it should be noted that there is no distinction between the provisions of Article 1,208 and the provisions of Article 48 of the Tort Liability Law,and the criterion for determining liability is still pointed to the Road Traffic Safety Law.With the development of science and technology in recent years,on August 8,2022,the Ministry of Transport issued the "Guidelines for Transportation Safety Services of Autonomous Vehicles(Trial)"(draft for comment)(hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines")to solicit public comments.With the rapid development of autonomous vehicles,relevant problems concerning road traffic safety also follow.Our current civil law does not have relevant provisions specifically aimed at the identification of civil liability for traffic accidents of autonomous vehicles,and the provisions concerning the identification of civil liability for road traffic accidents of motor vehicles cannot be directly applied.Therefore,for the current identification of civil liability for traffic accidents of autonomous vehicles,There are fuzzy subject identification,the traditional imputing principle is difficult to prove internally,and it is difficult to maintain the value balance between civil liability bearing and technology development protection.Therefore,this article focuses on the identification of civil liability for traffic accidents of autonomous vehicles.Based on summarizing its characteristics,it adopts the method of legal hermeneutics to explain current laws.Combining cases and foreign theories,it offers suggestions as follows to improve the identification path of civil liability adapted to our legal system: First,based on the analysis of current academic views,it is determined that the subject of liability should still be natural person,excluding the possibility of autonomous vehicle taking its "artificial intelligence" characteristic,namely independence as civil subject,to construct the tripartite subject of liability.Secondly,the independent application of no-fault liability and fault liability is not appropriate,should be guided by the subject of responsibility,to establish a multi-level liability identification path;Third,relief measures should be improved as a system guarantee.At present,theoretical discussions still refer to the infringement of nuclear accident and vaccine accident,but the applicable background of these two is still different from the development background of autonomous vehicles.Therefore,it is necessary to combine the characteristics of traffic accidents of autonomous vehicles,build a basis for multiple liability identification,increase the types of insurance,and improve the liability insurance system.In order to balance the development of science and technology and victim relief insurance system.