About the project

With the much-anticipated revolution in autonomous (or “self-driving”) cars fast becoming reality, the Singapore Academy of Law’s Law Reform Committee (‘LRC’) has considered how liability should be attributed in the event of accidents involving such cars, and the issues that may arise in seeking to apply existing liability frameworks. 

In particular, the LRC's report:

• Identifies the ways in which complex autonomous driving technologies complicate the process of identifying what caused an accident and determining who should be liable for it, establishing that party’s liability, and assessing any relevant defences.
• Surveys the regulatory steps taken by key overseas jurisdictions (including the EU, US and Japan) to adjust their laws to accommodate the adoption of autonomous vehicles on public roads.
• Highlights the challenges that arise in seeking to apply each of the main existing liability frameworks - negligence, product liability and 'no-fault' liability - in the context of autonomous vehicles (click here for a one minute guide to the key issues)

The LRC hopes that its report will assist policy makers in assessing the best future legal and regulatory scheme for Singapore, so as to encourage innovation and promote the mainstream adoption of autonomous vehicles, while also ensuring those harmed in accidents involving such vehicles obtain effective redress.

Project status: Completed

• The report was published in September 2020. 
• This report is part of the Law Reform Committee’s Impact of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence on the Law series. Further reports in this series are available here.
• Report (pdf)
• Quick Guide (pdf)

Areas of law

◾ Technology Law

◾ Robotics & Artificial Intelligence

◾ Tort Law

Click on the image above to view the full report

Last updated 23 September 2020