Should drunk drivers be charged with DUI in fully autonomous cars? [View all]

[FrodosNewPet]

Should drunk drivers be charged with DUI in fully autonomous cars?

New laws will have to be written based on the level of automation you have.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/10/australia-panel-asks-is-starting-a-self-driving-car-while-drunk-criminal/

MEGAN GEUSS - 10/6/2017, 11:19 AM

In some Australian states, it’s illegal to start a car with the intent to put it in motion while you’re drunk. The rise of autonomous vehicles complicates things though. Sure, you’re three sheets to the wind and want to put the car in motion, but you're unlikely to hurt anyone by directing a car to taxi you through the Taco Bell drive-through a couple of times before you pass out in a cloud of tortilla dust.

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Though it may seem obvious that a drunk person should be allowed to be taxied home by a fully autonomous car, the question is less clear if you have to determine just how autonomous an autonomous vehicle needs to be for a drunk person to operate it. The government should want drunk people to engage a high-level autonomous driving system if the alternative is driving themselves home, but if they’ll be penalized for being drunk while they’re “in control” of an autonomous vehicle, uptake of self-driving systems may be slow.

Instead, the NTC argues, drunk driving offenses should only apply to drunk people who are manually operating their vehicles but not to people who have merely started an autonomous car. The present rules "exist because a person who starts or sets in motion a conventional vehicle while under the influence clearly has an intention to drive,” the NTC writes.

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The questions are being raised in the US, too. At the Governors' Highway Safety Association meeting this week, US authorities discussed open container laws in autonomous vehicles. Currently, it's illegal to have an open alcohol container in a car while you're driving US roads. But should that apply in fully autonomous systems where no one is driving?

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Day by day, automated vehicle technology is progressing to the point of feasibility. At the same time, many social and economic challenges will be coming along for the ride.

We need to address these challenges sooner or later. We cannot keep kicking them down the road. We need to be prepared for the loss of professional driver jobs. Not to mention the huge economic infrastructure catering to personally owned vehicles - car dealers, mechanics, tow trucks, etc.