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Comment by Toast_ | Hacker News Reader

Whenever I read an article like this—in advocacy of AI controlled objects, I always wonder: who would be to blame if an unfortunate circumstance would arrive? As in, say there was an accident, how could 'faulty software' be blamed, or better put, how would it stand trial? Perhaps it could go through another update (think ios 8). Problem solved?

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Let the insurance companies figure out who to blame in each particular case; that's what they're for.

Right, and when they represent giant corporations, us common-folk won't have anything to fear; "It wasn't faulty software,but a dysfunctional update"—sort of thing. (my issue is that you won't be able to point a finger at anyone.)

In a system as complex, where you have millions of lines of code written by hundreds of programmers run on hundreds of chips designed by thousands of people, it doesn't really make sense to "point a finger at someone". The smallest responsible unit will most likely be the company that created the car.

Which is exactly the point I'm pushing: Who will pay for other's incompetence (or for lack of a better word failure)? Will we simply sweep someone's life under the rug? With regards to the idea that a company will be 'responsible,' just think of Shell and the oil in the gulf. I only want to be held accountable for my own actions, and not be a statistic a corporation sweeps under the rug. The issue is the accountability, and its ability to be exploited, not the actual legal value.

Well in this situation, the hypothetical "you" are held accountable for your choice of automated car. Evaluating which programming group to trust seems like plenty of responsibility to me.

Just like every investor is fully aware of all variables when picking a stock, thus fully accountable in case of said stock's crash, correct?

I'd agree with the parent commenter: the car company would be responsible, financially. Legally, they would have to recall or disable all instances until a fix is pushed.

Human life, in this case, will get a price tag, instead of a (jail) time value, as is mostly the case today.

Who created the car if the hardware came from manufacturer, internal displays and sensors from a bunch of outside suppliers, and software to manage it all from Google?

Whoever is responsible for approving the aggregate and pushing it to market. Since we don't (yet) have products that self-assemble in store from various parts out of their own free will, there is always a single entity responsible for putting everything together.

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