In driver’s seat with insurance
NuTonomy, the selfdriving car company now testing the hands-free technology in the city, has taken out a $5 million insurance policy to guard against lawsuits.
The city and state, one lawyer says, may not need that same level of protection — at least not yet.
Marc Breakstone, a Boston personal injury lawyer, said the city should be safe if an autonomous vehicle loses control.
“I don’t see how there could be liability on the part of the city,” Breakstone said. “The city has to do something wrong to cause or contribute to the accident.”
Breakstone added that the city could come into trouble if the nascent industry is discovered to be dangerous.
“Conceivably, if there’s evidence that autonomous vehicles are inherently dangerous and the city permits them to license in Boston, conceivably there could be liability, but I doubt the licensing body would authorize the operation of autonomous vehicles if there were evidence of their dangerous or defective condition,” Breakstone said.
Cambridge-based nuTonomy is the only company testing self-driving cars right now in the state, but others could quickly follow.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, the onus could fall on the manufacturers to prove they were not at fault during a crash in what is sure to become an evolving issue.