Civil Liability Regime on Autonomous-Driving Vehicle Accident in Korea

With the recent legal discussions on autonomous-driving vehicles that are becoming more active, the amendment to the Motor Vehicle Accident Compensation Guarantee Act Compensation Act was promulgated on April 7, 2020 and took effect on October 8, 2020, governing the legal liability arising from traffic accident involving the SAE Level 3 AVs. Based thereon, we will discuss on which concerned party is liable in case of a relevant vehicle accident, the underlying laws and regulations, relevant requirements, and the difference between the liabilities at each stage according to the SAE Level 0-5, mainly focusing on the differences from conventional legal liabilities in the case of SAE Level 3-5 AVs. Thereby, we will briefly explain the concept of AVs under Korean law and the scenarios that assume legal liability, dividing them into (1) SAE Level 0-2 to deal with casualty/property damages by offenders and victims, (2) SAE Level 3 to understand where the liability for casualty damages of victims lies under the amended Compensation Act, and (3) SAE Level 4-5 to examine whether the liability under the amended Compensation Act will be applied as it is by referring to the current academic discussions.