AV Litigation & Insurance: No Definitive Answer of Who’s at Fault

Legislators, safety advocacy groups, and others are mulling over not only the safety of semi- or fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) but who is at fault and accountable when they’re involved in crashes. So how does that affect insurance and repairers?

A lawsuit brought to New Jersey District Court last week from Camden County Superior Court against Tesla is one example of a semi-AV court conundrum that may leave many wondering who is at fault – Tesla or the owner?

And who pays for damages? Toll collector Sharon Scott filed the suit because she says she was injured when a 2019 Model X allegedly accelerated on its own causing a crash at the toll booth she was working at on the New Jersey Turnpike in 2020.

Scott is suing Tesla, vehicle owner Mike Gao, and Kim Lam, who was ‘operating’ the vehicle at the time of the crash.

A class of ‘yet unknown individuals, corporations, or partnerships who sold, marketed, maintained, manufactured, designed and/or supplied a vehicle or component to a vehicle involved in this accident’ are also listed as defendants.