Hacker News

Even humans who are driving normally and sober can be held responsible if the law decides that they were at fault. Fatal accidents are investigated by people whose job is specifically to investigate vehicle accidents.

That's a good question, but it's important to keep in mind that a lot of public judgement here is based off a single headline, not a thorough investigation. The world is messy, and even the best technology will get into accidents due to any number of causes, including children dashing into the road.

In the case where the technology in the car was found to be at fault, I agree that there needs to be a responsible party, but it's not exactly straightforward. Punishing the driver seems counterintuitive, but may be useful in getting owners to be diligent in selecting safer vehicles. And punishing the company is complicated - if the punishment is just a fine, it will simply be rolled up into their expected expenses. If it's too damaging, it will chill development of automated driving entirely. I'm not really sure what the best solution is.