Strict liability of the manufacturer for damages caused by autonomous vehicle

The use of autonomous vehicles is one of the important issues of today and the future. Their usage on public highways has started in the national and international arena. There are debates in the doctrine about that if these vehicles are involved in an accident, who will be held responsible and to what extent. To decide this liability, we need to know what an autonomous vehicle is and where it is in driving automation. In this study, the classification of driving automation has made and the place of autonomous vehicle in this classification has been tried to be determined. In this study, the strict liability of the manufacturer has discussed. There are separate laws in national and international areas that deal with the strict liability of the manufacturer. Within the framework of these laws, the liability of autonomous vehicle manufacturers has been revealed. In addition, the Autonomous Driving Law, which was introduced with the 2021 amendments to the StVG (Straßenverkehrsgesetz-German Highway Traffic Law), is the first national law that makes detailed regulations on autonomous vehicles. In this study, this law has been examined in detail. It has been emphasized that it is important to make a legal regulation regarding the technical equipment that the autonomous vehicle should have in our country like Germany and an exemplary text has been presented about this regulation. What should be the limit of the manufacturer's strict liability in terms of independent variable systems is highly controversial in national and international doctrine. In the study, what this limit should be is explained by drawing a frame on the basic principles. It is very important to find the system boundary and basic principles in this way in order to determine whether the decisions made by the fourth level autonomous vehicles will be considered as defects.