Audi will take full responsibility in event of autonomous vehicle crash

By, 2017-09-12

As a challenging and marketing move, Audi announced that it is ready to take full responsibility for any accidents that occur when applying the autonomous driving technology system.

The all-new Audi A8 debuts level 3 of the autonomous driving technology, designed to work in traffic jams. It gives drivers the ability to activate the system, take their eyes off the road and focus on more important tasks.

The level 3 autonomy technology brings with it huge liability issues for manufacturers, which has driven Audi to implement a number of safeguards to ensure the system works flawlessly.

The manager of pre-development of automated driving at Audi, Dr Thorsten Leonhardt said: “When the function is operated as intended, if the customer turns the traffic jam pilot on and uses it as intended, and the car was in control at the time of the accident, the driver goes to his insurance company and the insurance company will compensate the victims of the accident and in the aftermath they come to us and we have to pay them”.

There are five different levels of self-driven cars. Levels 1 and 2 are limited to vehicles where there’s never an expectation of full autonomy, which means the driver always needs to be in control of the vehicle.

At level 3, the driver is able to let the vehicle fully control its operation when activated. The driver is able to take their eyes off the road and isn’t expected to pay attention.

Level 4 is when the car is able to control the entire driving process from start to finish. An example of this is Google’s Waymo test car, which drives entirely on its own.

Finally, level 5 autonomy is a vehicle that will drive itself, but doesn’t feature a steering wheel or pedals.