Automated vehicles, tort liability and Private international law

Studies of, and research on, automated vehicles are currently underway, and their commercialisation will become a reality over the next years. Thus, the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automated vehicles raises very important challenges from the regulatory point of view and, in particular, from the perspective of private international law rules. The introduction of automated vehicles will contribute to the gradual decrease in the liability of drivers involved in cross-border traffic accidents versus that of producers and operators of the AI systems installed in these vehicles. Consequently, there is a paradigm shift from the regime of the fault-based liability of the driver to that of the strict liability for damage caused by defective products. This shift will directly affect the application of the rules of private international law in order to determine the applicable law in cases of tort liability. This paper analyses the EU legislative initiatives on AI and civil liability and its compatibility with the rules of private international law applicable to tort liability arising from cross-border road traffic accidents involving automated vehicles. Methodology used: The object of my research is international by its very nature: the cross-border traffic accidents and the applicable rules of Private international law applying to determine the jurisdiction of national courts in the EU and the applicable law. Therefore, the methodology of my research work relies on interdisciplinary legal methodologies which will allow me to focus the legal problems from a conventional, institutional and domestic legal perspective – international conventions, European Union legislation and domestic rules – and to provide a comparative study of the matters analyzed.