A study on the revision of the Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Security Act for the ear of Autonomous Vehicles

Attempts to commercialize autonomous vehicles along with the technological development of autonomous vehicles are already being started in Korea. The Korean government has also announced and is preparing a roadmap for regulatory innovation for the Mobility era in related to autonomous vehicles. However, prior to the era of self-driving cars, it is necessary to examine whether our legislation, especially the Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Security Act, is appropriate. The autonomous vehicle industry not only means the development of transportation but also means the creation of new connected-based industries. In the case of self-driving cars, artificial intelligence technology is equipped to enable not only level 3 in which a human driver rides, but also a stage that does not require a human driver at all, so it may be difficult to clarify the responsibility in the event of an accident. In particular, the problem of liability may be revealed at the conception stage in the legislation to quickly relieve victims and lower social costs through the Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Security Act. In general, autonomous cars are expected to have a lower accident rate due to human drivers' mistakes, but it is inevitable to predict that the error or cause of the accident that the autonomous car itself may have is not clearly identified. Although convenience is provided due to the development of technology, it is exposed to potential risks that may have to take unexpected risks due to unpredictability, which is the inherent characteristic of artificial intelligence products. In the case of Germany, through the revision of StVG, the upper limit of compensation for damages in the case of accidents of autonomous cars was doubled to compensate for the gap in compensation, and the concept of autonomous cars in level 4 and 5 was introduced. While strengthening the responsibility of car owners, the same concept as the technical supervisor was additionally established. Japan has established a new provision aimed at autonomous driving without drivers while maintaining the existing responsibility system and created a permit system to be used in local mobile services. Japan reorganized its legislation for the commercialization of autonomous vehicles in public transportation. In order to develop existing autonomous vehicle technology, the U.S. has defined or focused on commercialization of licensing requirements for testing, but since the end of 2019, it has been trying to systematically organize laws related to autonomous cars in each state. In particular, the system is being reorganized to provide the same level of passenger protection as the current car provides by revising the federal automobile safety standard and reporting the cancellation of autonomous driving when there is no driver. In the case of Korea, the concept or legislation for “autonomous driving without a driver” is insufficient right now, so it is time to make efforts to supplement our the Compulsory Motor Vehicle Liability Security Act by referring to related laws in major countries. In the run-up to the mobility era, in order to ensure that drivers of autonomous vehicles enjoy the most convenience while distributing the responsibility accordingly, the characteristics of each technology stage should be clearly defined and legislation for autonomous vehicles suitable for level 4 should be reorganized.