자율주행자동차에서 제기되는 민사책임에 관한 고찰 ― 미국의 법상황과 엄격책임을 중심으로 ―

As autonomous vehicles are becoming more commercialized, the responsibility for automobile accidents and compensation for damages are expected to change significantly. Applying this to the current laws, it is difficult to interpret specific responsibilities in detail. Even if autonomous vehicles are equipped with highly advanced technology, there is a possibility of unexpected accidents, so the issue of legal responsibility and the relief of victims remains an essential issue. In other words, a new body of law is needed to apply to autonomous vehicles practical use. It is generally approached by applying the Automobile Compensation Guarantee Act and Product Liability Law to resolve the liability and damage issues caused by autonomous vehicles. Currently, South Korea has a car liability insurance system that requires car owners to mandatorily sign up. The Product Liability Law stipulates that car manufactures are responsible for compensating for damage caused by a defect in the program installed in their autonomous vehicles. In this case, if the responsibility is given to the car manufactures then they may lose their sales desire. On the other hand, if the burden of proof is given to the victim, the victim may lose their compensation. If the victim fails to prove a defect or negligence, then a legal system will be needed to resolve the dilemma between the two. Concerning all these complex issues, this article will first overview the laws that are existing or being discussed, specifically in the states of Nevada, Florida, California, Michigan, and the District of Columbia particularly describing how these states regulate and implement the laws (Part II). Next, this article will analyze strict liability (Part III) in Tort laws in the United States that is discussed and applied in autonomous vehicles to solve civil liability issues. Although this article will mainly focus on strict liability in the United States with regard to Tort laws, it also examines the current laws of South Korea and it’s applications to the current status and analysis of them that will be briefly overviewed in Part IV. Based on these studies, this article will deduce several important implications that will contribute into South Korea with a more positive direction (Part V). In this sense, it is meaningful to review the legal responsibility of a car accident in autonomous vehicles. This article is one of many articles that have studied the legal responsibility of autonomous vehicles, but I also hope it will contribute actively to future research.