Abstract

The development of self-driving vehicles represents a real challenge for legislators as well as a stimulating chance of debate for law scholars, who are called to address the evolution of normative frameworks that is entailed by the introduction of this new technology in the mass market. Starting from the alarming delay of the vast majority of States in addressing the imminent large-scale diffusion of self-driving vehicles, this paper provides a short synopsis of the main area of legal interest, in relation to autonomous vehicles, and focuses on a synchronic analysis of legal and regulatory instruments adopted worldwide. A comparative overview of different normative approaches (particularly those adopted by the most-advanced legal systems in this field, such as the United States of America and Germany) suggests the need to overcome the traditional and unitary approach to responsibility for the circulation of vehicles - centered on the owner and on the user - in favour of a more flexible and nuanced model. This paradigm should take into account the difficult, but still essential, balance between the protection of users' individual rights and the grade of responsibility they may be called to bear.