ABSTRACT
The EU Product Liability Directive (Directive 85/374/EEC – PLD) provides for strict liability of producers for defective products. This paper examines its applicability de lege lata and de lege ferenda to software updates of automated vehicles. It is concluded that to regard software updates as ‘products’ under the PLD entails many legal and practical challenges. These relate to the notion of ‘product’, the time that the update is put into circulation, the notion of ‘defect’, the burden of proof especially as to causation, and the calculation of time bars. Applying the PLD to software updates seems to create more problems than the ones the Directive is meant to solve. Therefore, it is submitted that the PLD is inapplicable both de lege lata and de lege ferenda to software updates. It is simpler and more logical to consider software updates of automated vehicles as a maintenance service.
Chatzipanagiotis, Michael P, Product Liability Directive and Software Updates of Automated Vehicles (November 11, 2020). Proceedings of SETN 2020 – 11th Hellenic Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2020.
First posted 2021-02-07 12:38:18
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