There’s nothing in the tort or criminal justice system that prevents responsible parties from being held responsible for negligently causing the death of a person in the realm of self-driving cars. If Arizona prosecutors don’t have enough for a case now, they might later after the NTSB investigation. No charges have been brought, so they could be brought up later.
I would suspect that the backup driver would bear the criminal responsibility for any collision the car got into. What the general consensus of the other HN commenters is that the driver could not have reacted better, though the LIDAR should have detected the woman.
In that case, the woman’s family would have a strong wrongful death case against Uber.
What you wrote made me realize that regulations/laws about equipment/performance/computational standards would probably be managed at the federal level anyway (e.g. NHTSA). Though America is not necessarily the lead in autonomous travel, right? How far along are nations like Singapore and Germany in having legal frameworks for autonomous safety?
I would suspect that the backup driver would bear the criminal responsibility for any collision the car got into. What the general consensus of the other HN commenters is that the driver could not have reacted better, though the LIDAR should have detected the woman.
In that case, the woman’s family would have a strong wrongful death case against Uber.
(I’m not a lawyer)