New York residents may have heard about the recent fatal crashes involving Tesla and Uber vehicles. In the Tesla accident, which occurred when the vehicle was on Autopilot, the driver allegedly received several warnings to place his hands on the wheel prior to the collision. The Uber crash, which involved a self-driving test vehicle, resulted in the company opting not to renew its license to test autonomous cars in the state of California. While these incidents may sour people on self-driving vehicles, there is still a lot of upside to the technology.
About 90 percent of all accidents each year are caused by human error. There are more than 35,000 deaths that result from car accidents, and autonomous technology tests have revealed that self-driving vehicles aren’t any more dangerous. Furthermore, Uber has already experienced significant consequences for its actions, and imposing sanctions on other companies could be too much. Developers have also worked to be transparent about the performance of their vehicles.
According to Tesla, a report issued to the National Transportation Safety Board contained too much information. Tesla also claimed that its Autopilot feature reduced crashes by 40 percent. Allowing self-driving cars on the road could be the only way to reduce the rate of accidents by the elderly that’s steadily increasing.
An individual who is injured in a car accident caused by a negligent driver could be entitled to compensation for their medical bills and other damages. Those damages may include missed wages or lost future earnings. An attorney could review a case to determine if negligence occurred. This may be done by looking at physical evidence or reviewing a police report. It might be possible to resolve a car accident case through a settlement instead of litigation. Doing so may resolve the matter in a timely manner.
