"Who’s Liable for Software Vulnerabilities in Cars?
Bryant Walker Smith, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law discussed responsibility for connected cars and brought up many legal issues for remote hacking and liabilities. Every state has different laws, however, law evolves and move across state lines with common theories. One state adopts a law and others follow. Liability will go as far up the supply train as far as it can be traced.
Liability for the automakers may be caused by something braking, bad design, not informing the driver how to use it, enabling bad behavior, misleading consumers, or promising more than delivered. Manufacturers are liable for injuries caused by flaws even when manufacturing reasonable. Smith notes that it is predictable the automakers will likely to be liable when vulnerabilities are exploited to cause arm, even if unavoidable. Manufactures will likely face class actions if their systems are especially vulnerable. Manufactures will likely have a de facto duty to update older systems.
Some defenses Smith suggests for automakers is to continue to offer OTA updates, manage risk dynamically and to continue finding ways to bring revenue beyond point of sale."
- Date Published:10/27/2015
- Original Publication:Auto Connected Car News