Utilización de vehículos automatizados y autónomos en el contrato de transporte terrestre de personas y mercancíasespecial referencia a la aplicación del régimen sobre responsabilidad por producto defectuoso

Resumo

The paper examines the legal consequences, in the field of liability, that the use of automated or autonomous vehicles entails in contracts for the transport of passengers and goods, in particular the compensation for damages caused by the use of this type of vehicle. The study has focused fundamentally on two regi-mes that can be applied for compensation of damages, civil liability for defective products and liability arising from the contract of land transport of passengers and goods. In the first place, the regulation on liability for defective products is addres-sed, analyzing the different elements that are characteristic of this regime. Some insufficiencies of this regulation are highlighted and the need to better regulate cer-tain aspects of special relevance in the field of artificial intelligence and automated vehicles in particular, which should be taken into consideration, in order to adapt this regulation to the compensation for the harmful consequences that may result from the use of these innovative means of transport.The possible adaptation of the regulations on land transport contracts for passengers and goods to regulate the legal consequences derived from the use of automated or autonomous vehicles in the execution of said contracts is also studied. It is verified that this regulation is not prepared to give a satisfactory response to the repair of the damage caused by the use of this class of vehicles. Likewise, difficulties are also noted in coordinating the liability regime derived from the transport contract with other liability regimes, in particular that of liability for defective products, as there are no clear and precise rules on this accumulation of liability.Proposals are also made for a future regulation on this matter, which could be directed towards the elaboration of a special legal regime of its own, comprising several legal perspectives, to discipline, with a global and plural nature, the harmful conse-quences emanating from the use of machines or robots with artificial intelligence, such as automated or autonomous vehicles.