The development and utilization of driverless cars are inevitable and closer to reality than ever. 11 states in the U.S. have already passed legislation related to driverless cars, a quick tour to California will enable you to see Waymo’s (Google’s driverless car project), being tested on public roads. Tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Uber, and Tesla consider it to be the future of the automobile industry. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla recently boldly predicted that within 10 years, all new cars will be self-driven. Whether accurate, it is safe to say that with that kind of “gun power” and investment, we will be passengers sitting in a driver(less) seat sooner rather than later. And yet, challenging issues relating to ethics, regulation, and policy remain to be answered before making these artificial chuffers an integral part of our lives.
liron shilo Esq., doctoral candidate (s.J.D) Georgetown university law center 