Whose Fault Is a Driverless-Car Crash?

Some possibilities not contemplated in this brief Time piece:

  • software developer for driving computer
  • component designer/manufacturer of driving computer
  • technician who performed final calibration of driving computer
  • technician who installed driving computer
  • creator of simulation software used by technician to test computer

In fact, car manufacturers and passengers are probably less likely to be at fault than any of the folks I list above.

After all, when a computer messes up in the present, it’s not really messing up: it’s telling you a human messed up in the past.