[uuddlrlrbaba]

The problem is software that drives an entire vehicle line is accountable. What you describe would hold an owner accountable. Like blaming a victim of a Toyota for a bug in the cruise control. But not the manufacturer of the software. It's an emerging thing and grey area for existing laws.

[cbanek]

This seems like a strawman that isn't related to the individual case here. For Waymo the cars and the software are the same company. Even if they weren't, the car's owner can always blame the manufacturer of the car or any software running in it. That's why we have judges to figure out who's at fault.

Think about the case of stuck accelerators: the driver of the car could be blamed for hitting something, but they say in court that they did not have their foot on the gas. This gets checked out and pushed onto the manufacturer of the car. This is old hat and has a lot of legal precedent. This is why we have recalls for this kind of issue.

While the legal precedent may be a current grey area that doesn't mean it's impossible to give a citation to a driverless car. That is the beginning of getting the grey area into court where a judge can rule on things. Not giving a citation does nothing for anyone other than let Waymo get away from responsibility.

Not only that, but if Waymo got a citation because of the openness of our court system everyone could see how it turns out and what arguments the company is making.