Volvo Will Take Responsibility If Its Self-Driving Cars Crash

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Say your new Volvo scrapes someone’s fender in a parking lot. If the car’s auto-pilot feature was enabled, well, that damage is now Volvo’s fault. Case closed, check’s in the mail!

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That could happen. At the Swedish embassy in Washington, D.C., CEO Håkan Samuelsson told a small crowd that the automaker would “accept full liability” whenever its cars are involved in accidents—presumably when they’re at fault—and engaged in autonomous mode. In a 60 Minutes segment on self-driving cars, Mercedes-Benz and Google told reporters they would also accept liability. Days earlier, Volvo detailed how drivers would enable and monitor the auto-pilot function when it becomes available.

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Volvo, to its own credit, has also promised zero fatalities or serious injuries in all of its cars worldwide by 2020. A big core of that will come from autonomous technology and driver assists such as auto-braking.

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• Volvo Details Auto-Pilot Feature for Its Self-Driving Feature

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• Selfish Whims: We Go For a Ride in Google’s Self-Driving Car

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• Lexus Debuts Self-Driving Feature, Will Come to Market by 2020

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Automakers have never involved themselves in the insurance business—although they get sued all the time, of course—and accepting liability sounds like a legal rabbit hole we’re not sure any company would willingly invite. But it may be what’s needed to remove an important obstacle to a future of autonomous cars.

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