Navigating the law reform route for driverless cars in New Zealand

Abstract

Driverless cars are an emerging technology, which removes the human driver from transportation and allows the technology itself to drive the car. The introduction of driverless cars to New Zealand will give rise to a number of legal issues, as the new technology attempts to fit within an existing legal framework. There is a need to reform the law to accommodate autonomous vehicles, which raises questions of how to best complete such a law reform process. The introduction of driverless cars can be divided into two stages: the testing stage, and the public introduction stage. Each stage will require a different method of reform. At the testing stage, this paper submits that no law reform should be undertaken. Testing may be undertaken by manufacturers legally within the existing transport law of New Zealand, and any new legislative requirements may repel manufacturers, to whom New Zealand would appeal as a testbed due to its reputation with emerging technologies and favourable liability laws. At the public introduction stage, where driverless technology is made available for purchase by the general public, this paper submits that a new legislative scheme should be drafted, working in correlation with international standards used to ensure quality control of vehicles imported into New Zealand.