[Responsibility2nd]

I get your point.

But the manufacturers have always had the liability when their product are defective. I’m thinking of the old Audi acceleration problems. And the recent Jeep transmission lever problems and all the Takata airbags that are defective.

If a SDC kills someone, the manufacturer as well as the current owner will be sued to death.

[Alberta's Child]

The manufacturer is only liable if the product is defective in some way ... the brakes fail, the gas pedal sticks, etc. In the case of a "normal" motor vehicle crash, the initial claims are filed through the drivers' auto insurance policies. With a self-driving vehicle, auto insurance as we know it is likely to disappear because all of the risks are now tied to the vehicle and have nothing to do with the driver.

This legal/insurance change isn't really the problem. The real problem is that once the car manufacturers are 100% liable in all crashes, they are likely to design their vehicles in a way that completely negates many of the potential advantages of self-driving vehicles -- i.e., they'll drive slowly, they'll maintain wide following distances, etc.