자율주행자동차와 관련한 자동차보유자의 손해배상책임
Liability of The Owner of The Vehicle for Damages related to The Autonomous Car
오지용(충북대학교)
57권, 229~251쪽
초록
사람이 자동차 운전에 관여하게 되는 기존의 운행자책임은 그 법적 성격을 증명책임이 전환된 중간책임 내지 제한된 무과실책임이라고 볼 수 있지만 자율주행시스템이 레벨 4 내지 5 단계에 이른 고도화된 자율주행시스템에 의해 운행되는 자율주행자동차의 운행자책임에 대해서는 그 법적 성격을 기존의 운행자책임과 달리 보아야 한다. 즉 고도화된 자율주행시스템에 의해 운행되는 자율주행자동차의 자동차보유자는 면책을 주장할 수 없는 순수한 형태의 무과실책임을 부담하게 된다고 볼 것이다. 그러므로 운행자의 면책규정인 자동차손해배상보장법 제3조 단서규정은 삭제하되, 피해자의 고의 또는 자살행위로 인해 자동차사고가 야기되거나 그의 전적인 과실로 인해 자동차사고가 야기된 경우까지 자동차보유자에게 책임을 물을 수 없는것이기에 위 제한요소를 해제조건으로 하는 무과실책임 규정으로 위 제3조 본문규정을 수정하는 것이 필요하다고 본다. 고도화된 자율주행시스템에 의해 주행하는 자율주행자동차가 야기하는 자동차사고는 사람이 운전에 관여하는 자동차에 비해 현저히 적을 것임에 비추어 보험사고의 발생가능성이 현저히 줄어들게 된다. 그렇다면 대인배상 책임보험의 보험료를 지금과 같은 수준의 보험료로 고집 할 필요가 없게 된다. 즉 보험료의 부담이 크지 않게 되므로 자율주행자동차를 운행하기 위해서는 반드시 무제한의 대인배상 책임보험에 가입하도록 함으로써 위 보험 자체를 자동차사고로 인해 인신손해를 입은 피해자를 보호하기 위한 사회보험으로 활용하여 피해자의 손해를 사회구성원 전체에게 분담시키도록 하는 것이 상당하다고 할 것이다.
Abstract
The legal nature of the existing automobile operator liability in which a human driver operates the vehicle can be seen as an intermediate liability or a limited form of strict liability. However, in the case of autonomous vehicles with autonomy level 4 or 5, operator liability should be understood as a complete form of strict liability. Because high level of autonomous technology allows the passenger to cede full control to the vehicle, car accidents can occur only when there are mechanical or systemic malfunctions of autonomous vehicles. Therefore, in accordance with the proviso clause of Article 3 of the Act on Guarantee of Compensation for Loss Caused by Automobile, autonomous car holders have no way to prove that “there was no defect in the structure and no malfunction of the automobile”, making it impossible for car owner to rid oneself of responsibility. In other words, the owner of the autonomous vehicle will have to bear the complete form of strict liability for human injury caused by its operation. This means that the car owner cannot claim exemption from liability for the loss. Considering the fact that the autonomous car (in the case of highly advanced autonomy system of level 4 or 5) accident is caused only by system malfunction, (and not by human negligence) the ground for exemption stated in the proviso clause of the Article 3 of the Act on Guarantee of Compensation for Loss Caused by Automobile does not allow the owner to rid oneself of responsibility in any case. If that is the case, the proviso clause stated above becomes meaningless and therefore it should be deleted; the autonomous vehicle owner will have to bear the complete form of strict liability for human injury caused by its operation. However, the owner should not bearthe responsibility for the accident caused by victim‘s intentional action or suicidal act. Therefore it would be necessary to set the above restriction element as a rescission condition without distinguishing between the case in which the victim is a passenger and the case in which victim is not a passenger. Highly advanced autonomous driving system will remarkably reduce the number of car accidents, and this will lead to significant reduction in the occurrence of insurance risk as well. Then it won’t be necessary to keep the insurance premium for the unlimited liability insurance at current high price level. The lowered insurance premium will make it possible for the establishment of a new system in which all autonomous vehicle owners are required to hold unlimited liability insurance, and this should be utilized as social insurance to protect victims from all car accidents. It is important to have the victim's losses shared among all members of society and institutional improvement must be developed in order to implement such system.
- 발행기관:
- 부설법학연구소
- 분류:
- 법학교육