Juma Al Nuaimi (Abu Dhabi)
A recent study conducted by Abdullah Ali Al-Qirtasy Al-Nuaimi, a legal researcher in the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Justice, recommended the issuance of special legislation within the Federal Traffic and Traffic Law, regulating and addressing the provisions for self-driving vehicles, coinciding with the great boom in the UAE in the areas of artificial intelligence, not Especially with the ability to drive these vehicles for groups that cannot drive traditional vehicles because of what they suffer from injuries to the feet or hands, or people of determination. The study, titled “Criminal Liability for Autonomous Vehicle Accidents in UAE Legislation”, reached several proposals and recommendations regarding legislative regulation of the licensing of these vehicles.
The study found solutions to avoid the problem of determining who is responsible for the accidents of these vehicles, as it suggested that the manufacturers of self-driving vehicles develop technical means (black box) that help to know the causes of the defect when an accident occurs, and to know if the accident was due to technical errors in the vehicle itself, and then The manufacturer is criminally responsible, or the accident was due to the intervention of the vehicle operator (the owner or the renter), such as entering wrong data or tampering with the programming system, which contributes to identifying the causes of the accident, without resorting to assigning a technical expert to uncover the circumstances and causes of the accident.
Through his study, the researcher concluded that the use of self-driving vehicles posed several problems, which necessitated the intervention of the legal side to find a solution to these problems, since law, as a social science, seeks to regulate every development that occurs in society in a way that achieves happiness.
The researcher pointed out that this study comes in light of the growing use of self-driving vehicles in the UAE society, which has resulted in new criminal problems, especially with regard to determining the criminal responsibility arising from the use of these vehicles, is it the responsibility of the natural person or the responsibility of the legal person.
He pointed out that the study aims to know the extent to which the provisions of criminal responsibility contained in the Federal Penal Code apply to address the resulting accidents caused by self-driving vehicles, and whether there is a need for new special legislation that addresses and regulates the provisions of this responsibility, especially that the self-driving vehicle runs from Without human intervention, it is difficult to determine criminally responsible for the effects resulting from these compounds.
Rules
The study concluded that the rules of criminal responsibility contained in the Penal Code are insufficient to apply them to the criminal responsibility resulting from accidents of self-driving vehicles, and the resulting legal problems in practice, especially with regard to the relationship between the vehicle and its driver, which is unjustified with what the country is witnessing. The UAE is a major legislative breakthrough in all fields.
The study suggested that the proposed law include articles and provisions that include: The existence of requirements for licensing a self-driving vehicle, such as submitting a certificate stating the safety of the technical vehicle components, as well as the presence of a driver qualified to drive it as decided by the Technical Committee for the issuance of licenses for self-driving vehicles. The manufacturers have the duty to inform the administration of all A vehicle owner who fails to present it to the company for periodic maintenance. And specifying a penalty for each user of a self-driving vehicle, if the accident occurred as a result of his negligence, or his failure to follow the instructions attached to the vehicle.
Determining a penalty for anyone who, through his fault or negligence, caused an accident that led to the death of a person, a disability or the destruction of his money, with the penalties prescribed for the same crimes in Law No. (21) of 1995 regarding traffic and traffic, as amended by Federal Law No. (12) of 2007.
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