Welcome To The New Normal: Motorcyclist Sues GM After Being Injured in Accident With Self Driving Car


Welcome To The New Normal: Motorcyclist Sues GM After Being Injured in Accident With Self Driving Car

Welp, here we go. While this is not the first lawsuit involving a self driving car, this is one that seems a little more interesting than those that have come before. A guy in California is suing GM after getting into an accident with a self-driving car. Basically the car had an aborted lane change which the motorcyclist claims caused him to crash into the car and hit the ground. The guy was injured and is not able to work. It should be noted that the police report cites the motorcycle rider as being at fault for trying to pass the self-driving car on the right. Interestingly there was a guy in the front seat of the car but he was unable to prevent the crash from happening.

The reality is that as this technology progresses and as more and more self-driving cars are on the roads, there will be a growing number of these incidents. The lawsuits and decisions of various courts are going to shape the future laws that actually surround this stuff. We’re not lawyers around here but it seems that as the motorcyclist was cited for traffic infractions he is going to have a tough row to hoe in the courtroom. That being said, this is one of the largest legal gray areas facing the immediate future, especially when it comes to transportation.

We’re going to be following this story with some interest as it may actually go trial.

What do you think? Legitimate situation or a guy trying to take advantage of a potential settlement payout?

Washington Post Link: After crash, injured motorcyclist accuses robot driven car of negligent driving 


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

10 thoughts on “Welcome To The New Normal: Motorcyclist Sues GM After Being Injured in Accident With Self Driving Car

  1. doug gregory

    If memory serves me right there have been successful suits against things like automatic hatches, auto sliding doors, and the old automatic seat bests. Looking for sensor and/or parameter flaws. They will also state the LEO that cited him was ‘educated’ on the flaws of self-driving vehicles. Judges and juries these days are notoriously short of common sense. One need only read through one listing of stella award nominees to figure that out. Sad stuff.

  2. Anthony

    Maybe if the dude kinda driving was able to avoid the bike it would not of happened. Yeah the motorcycle was wrong for passing on the right but how many times does this happen to everybody? You are not wrong but still avoid the accident.

  3. Dave

    Something i dont understand about this self driving car deal is if you dont want to drive why did you buy a car

  4. cletus

    from the reports the motorcyclist was faulted fir the crash for passing on the right, he was also lane splitting, and the speed of the incident was reported to be around 15 mph. itll be interesting to see what the cars data says about the whole ordeal as well.

  5. Bob

    This is the vision of the elitist / environmentalist / progressive (which is code for socialist, communist) for transportation of the worker drones in the future.

    These are the fist version of something that really is going to evolve into nothing more than a pod on wheels powered by some magical non petroleum based fuel source . Vehicles for any other reason like enjoyment, racing, etc. won’t serve any purpose to these people.

    Liberalism is the Trojan horse of Communism

  6. cyclone03

    It does bring to question,Would a “normal” person have made a choice that could have prevented this collision? “Aborted” lane change?,another car entered the the auto cars programmed safe zone? Would the car delaying ,human reaction time,evasive action allowed space for the motorcycle to pass? Is the car programmed to “save itself” first?

    Blaming the bike for passing on the right,is a joke here in the US.

Comments are closed.