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Trucking companies are always looking for ways to get more drivers on the road because operators are getting increasingly difficult to find. Technology companies are also trying to change the world through new innovations. The combination of these factors has the trucking industry considering the future possibilities of driverless semi trucks. These potentially can help trucking companies get cargo from Point A to Point B without drivers and even more safely. Autonomous semi trucks raise interesting questions of liability in the event that one of them is involved in an accident.

Recently, an autonomous truck company completed the first major test of an autonomous truck. The test took place on highways and streets between Phoenix and Tucson in December 2021. While the test was said to have gone well, the autonomous truck had plenty of help. There was a survey vehicle traveling five miles ahead of it and it had patrol cars driving behind it.

Driverless Trucks May Be Unsafe at First 

If driverless cars are any guide, there could be some problems if this technology is ever introduced on a wider scale in the future, at least at the outset. There have been some instances of driverless cars malfunctioning and causing accidents. These systems do not always work as intended, and this technology is still far from ready for widespread use. However, autonomous semi trucks will soon be rolling off assembly lines in large numbers. Like any new technology, there may be challenges in the beginning.

Who Is Responsible for a Crash? 

There would be a question of who would be legally responsible when a machine malfunctions, as opposed to a human being negligent. What would be absolutely certain is that injured truck accident victims would still seek compensation when they think that someone or something else was responsible for their injuries. The complicated issue would be who must pay for damages if the truck itself was to blame. 

Trucking companies might argue the blame should fall on the company that made the technology. They could claim they purchased a system designed to follow traffic laws to the letter, and there is no way they should be held liable for something done by a machine. The trucking company would probably contract in advance for and/or otherwise seek some sort of indemnification or payment from the manufacturer if it was sued.

Figuring Out the Responsible Defendant Could Be Challenging

If self-driving trucks ever become the norm, lawsuits concerning crashes involving these trucks will be complicated. There could be causes of action alleged for negligence, products liability, and more in every case. Plaintiffs’ attorneys will perform their own investigation of a crash to reach their own conclusions about how it happened. You can expect that they will be pointing fingers at everyone, trying to get as much money as they can for their client from as many people and/or entities as possible. 

If anything, personal injury attorneys will use driverless trucks to try to bring more defendants into the usual truck accident case. The truck’s manufacturer would be an obvious defendant in every single case because personal injury attorneys will claim the accident showed the truck did not work as intended. Not only would the autonomous truck manufacturer be sued, but lawyers could also file lawsuits against the makers of defective component parts. This would include software engineers and chipmakers, among others. Lawsuits would likely name as many parts manufacturers as possible. Of course, attorneys would likely reach beyond technology manufacturers to sue makers of tires and brakes too if it could lead to more money for their clients. 

A Trucking Company Cannot Delegate Its Legal Responsibility 

To be clear, attorneys will continue to go after trucking companies too for injuries caused by a driverless truck. Trucking companies will likely be unable to escape liability by simply eliminating the driver. Personal injury attorneys would argue that the trucking company opted for the driverless truck, so it should be held responsible. In a similar situation involving driverless cars, Uber settled a lawsuit over an incident in which one of its driverless cars struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona in 2018, and this may serve as a template for driverless truck cases. The family also sued the City of Tempe and the State of Arizona as well as the backup driver for negligent homicide in an expansive attempt to try to hold everyone possible liable. 

If anything, driverless trucks will give plaintiffs new, additional defendants from which to recover financially for their injuries. The benefits that driverless technology provides may be tempered by the plaintiffs’ bar’s ability to make everything far more complicated and costly. Attorneys will need to have a deep understanding of the complex systems on which these trucks rely. A lawyer must also work with software and technology experts to learn what may have happened with these systems and the root cause of the accident. 

The hope is that driverless technology will make things far safer for every other motorist on the road. Nonetheless, it will take years before these vehicles are the norm on the highways. Between now and then, there may be some accidents and malfunctions that injure drivers. The transportation industry will need to learn to deal with the legal aspects of moving to this technology. 

What is certain is that driverless technology is already beginning to upend personal injury law. Everyone, from companies to lawyers to insurers, will need to change the way they evaluate risk and do business because what was once a straightforward question of who was driving a truck at the time of an accident won’t be so straightforward in the future. Mass production of driverless vehicles may happen sooner than we think, so companies may be facing these issues in the very near future. This is why you will need a forward-thinking law firm that understands the complexities of trucking litigation and complex insurance disputes, including the intersection between technology and negligence.