Who's Driving?

One key issue facing the makers of autonomous cars is who is responsible for accidents ... which are bound to happen ... computer algorithms can never be perfect. Fast forward a number of years until we have a large percentage of our auto fleet withou steering wheels and pedals ... just computer screens. What if both cars in these bumpers are self-driving? And what if the cars aren't even owned by their "drivers?" These problems are quite complex and confounding.

To evoke Occam's Razor to this dilemma, it would seem to this observer that, if and when the above scenerio takes place, that the simpler solution is that the responsible parties would and should be the computer algoriths' designers themselves ... even if one party in such an accident isn't automous. Therefore, the purchaser or renter of such transportation can not be responsible and needn't carry insurance. And, if in such a brave new world, automotive accidents are much rarer, the existing auto insurance industry will play a much diminished role.

This, of course, would be quite revolutionary. Again of course, if this brave new world comes to pass?