Publications
Publications
- 2024
- HBS Working Paper Series
Consumers Hold Autonomous Vehicles Liable Even When Not at Fault
By: Julian De Freitas, Xilin Zhou, Margherita Atzei, Shoshana Boardman and Luigi Di Lillo
Abstract
The deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and the accompanying societal and economic benefits will greatly depend on how much liability AV firms will have to carry for accidents involving these vehicles, which in turn impacts their insurability and associated insurance premiums. Across four experiments (N=4,061), we investigate whether accidents where the AV was not at-fault could become an unexpected liability risk for AV firms, by exploring consumer perceptions of AV liability. We find that when such accidents occur, the not-at-fault vehicle becomes more salient to consumers when it is an AV. As a result, consumers are more likely to entertain counterfactuals in which the not-at-fault vehicle might have behaved differently to avoid, or minimize damage from, the accident. Given this reasoning, consumers conclude that in such a case, the vehicle could have acted more optimally to prevent or avoid the accident, even if it did not cause it, leading them to judge AV firms as more liable than both firms that make human-driven vehicles and human drivers for damages when not-at-fault.
Keywords
Autonomous Vehicles; Moral Judgment; Liabilities; Harm; Insurance; Moral Sensibility; Legal Liability; Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Public Opinion
Citation
De Freitas, Julian, Xilin Zhou, Margherita Atzei, Shoshana Boardman, and Luigi Di Lillo. "Consumers Hold Autonomous Vehicles Liable Even When Not at Fault." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-036, January 2023. (Revised July 2024.)