When cars take control, who takes the blame? Inside the ADAS liability debate

A crash involving advanced driver assistance systems raises a difficult question: was it the driver, the technology or the manufacturer at fault? Consumer writer Siobhan Doyle investigates how insurers are trying to establish fault.

Cars can now brake, steer and adjust their speed without the driver’s intervention. But just because a car can make driving decisions doesn’t mean the law considers it responsible for them.

That creates a potential liability question: a car can feel like it’s driving itself while the driver remains legally responsible.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are becoming commonplace in modern cars as customers demand improved safety technology and regulations force manufacturers to keep at the cutting edge. However, modern systems require the driver to be in control at all times.

We spoke to industry experts to explore who is currently responsible when accidents happen, and how car insurance liability could change as vehicle technology evolves.

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Assistance doesn’t mean self-driving

Yousif Al-Ani, principal engineer of ADAS at Thatcham Research, assesses how driver assistance technology works in real-world vehicles and what it means for safety and insurance. Thatcham Research tests and evaluates these systems to help insurers understand how they affect drivers and accident risk.

One of the biggest issues, Al-Ani says, is that drivers can struggle to tell the difference between a car that helps them drive and one that can drive itself.

Level 2 driver assistance systems can steer, brake and accelerate, sometimes for long periods, creating the impression that the car is driving itself. But the driver is still expected to watch the road and stay in control.

“We’ve tested systems that allow you to drive for over an hour without touching the steering wheel or pedals,” Al-Ani says. “The problem is that they begin to feel like automation.”

“You can have a vehicle that feels autonomous while the driver remains legally liable for everything that happens.”

“It’s therefore essential that drivers understand exactly what these systems can and cannot do, and that they recognise their ongoing responsibility when using them.”

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) agrees the growing range of ADAS features should not be confused with genuinely autonomous driving.

An ABI spokesperson tells Carwow: “There’s a range of ADAS helping to make UK roads safer. Whether a vehicle has these systems will not affect how insurers process a claim if it is involved in a collision.”

The organisation says these systems can support drivers without changing who is legally responsible for the vehicle.

“While ADAS features can support drivers and represent an important step towards greater vehicle automation, they do not change the current liability framework, as the driver remains responsible for the vehicle.”

The UK has recognised the risk of confusing assistance with automation. Under the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, rules are being introduced to distinguish ordinary driver assistance from genuinely automated driving and prevent systems being marketed in ways that suggest they are self-driving.

When ADAS makes a mistake, who pays for it?

Technology doesn’t have to fail completely to create a liability question.

An Automatic Emergency Braking system could activate unexpectedly, Lane Keeping Assist could make an unwanted steering correction, or a driver could misunderstand what the system is designed to do.

For Level 2 systems, responsibility generally remains with the driver. Even if a system produces “a false warning or unnecessary steering input”, the driver is expected to remain in control, Al-Ani explains.

But insurers don’t necessarily assume the driver is at fault without investigating what happened.

Thomas Mayo, head of technical underwriting at Allianz UK, says “determining liability in ADAS-related incidents requires a case-by-case assessment”, including the level of automation being used, whether the driver was expected to remain in control and whether the system performed within its specifications.

Sian Davies, head of motor liability at insurance provider Admiral, says the insurer’s approach is similarly evidence-based. “Our job is to establish what happened based on all available evidence and make fair decisions for our customers.”

That evidence can include technology that would not have been available to investigators in the past. “Today, where available, we are able to use dashcam footage, vehicle telematics, ADAS data and other technology to help provide a much clearer picture,” Davies adds.

Allianz says its claims processes can investigate the role technology played and “pursue recovery against manufacturers or technology providers where appropriate.”

The question is therefore not simply whether the driver or the car is to blame: if the technology contributes to a crash, can the evidence establish where responsibility actually lies?

Access to evidence remains an issue

That question becomes more important as vehicles become more automated.

Al-Ani believes “mandatory access to vehicle data” is the biggest change needed to make future insurance claims work fairly.

“If you don’t have dashcam footage and you can’t immediately access the vehicle’s data logs, you’ll initially be treated as being at fault,” he says.

That could mean paying an excess, losing a no-claims discount and dealing with an at-fault claim where access to more data could have painted a different picture.

Admiral says insurers are already adapting. Davies states that claims processes are “incorporating more digital evidence and vehicle data than ever before”, allowing insurers to build a clearer picture of what happened.

But access to that information remains an issue as automation develops. An Aviva spokesperson tells Carwow the mechanisms for sharing data between manufacturers and insurers to support liability investigations “are yet to be agreed.”

The ABI also sees vehicle data as an important part of the transition towards genuinely self-driving vehicles.

“As autonomous vehicles become more common on our roads, access to relevant vehicle data will be crucial to establish whether the driver or vehicle was in control at the time of an incident, which is why we continue to support a clear data-sharing framework as the legislation progresses,” the ABI spokesperson explains.

What happens when cars really do drive themselves?

The biggest change will come when cars move beyond driver assistance and are approved to drive themselves.

With today’s Level 2 systems, the driver is still responsible. But once an automated vehicle is approved for use, that can change.

According to Al-Ani, when an approved automated driving system is in control, “the driver is no longer legally responsible for the vehicle’s actions.”

The ABI agrees that this represents a different liability position from today’s driver-assistance systems. Its spokesperson tells Carwow the distinction will arise specifically when “an authorised self-driving system is engaged”.

Aviva says insurers would look at what went wrong – whether it was the driver’s actions, a fault with the vehicle or a problem with the automated driving system. It adds that it will still pay compensation to people injured in accidents involving approved autonomous vehicles.

If the technology is at fault, responsibility could ultimately fall on the manufacturer or software provider.

Allianz’s Mayo says insurers are already preparing for this shift and can seek to recover costs from manufacturers or technology providers where appropriate.

But that process will depend on having the right evidence.

Al-Ani says the Automated Vehicles Act provides the legal framework, but there are still questions over who can access vehicle data and how quickly it should be made available.

He also noted that the basic principles of motor insurance are unlikely to change, although new arrangements for sharing vehicle data could change the way insurers handle claims.

Who’s really in control?

As cars become more advanced, it raises a simple question: if your car can make decisions for you, should you always be held responsible when something goes wrong?

For now, in most cases, the answer is yes. But as cars take on more of the driving, the liability position will evolve too.

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