Autonomous vehicles and cyber-terrorism
While Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) promise to bring many benefits to society, this does not rule out the possibility of new and more serious accidents as these vehicles become widely available. AVs can be the target of sophisticated and complex terrorist cyberattacks, which have the capacity to cause substantial harm to society as a whole. Understanding the cybersecurity of AVs requires more than a technical perspective; it necessitates an incentive-oriented approach. This research uses a Law and Economics approach to analyze how ex-post liability rules and ex-ante safety regulations can be designed to create incentives that align stakeholder interests with the public goal of robust cybersecurity, ensuring effective cybersecurity measures are implemented.A standards-based ex-ante safety regulation is the best way to address the evolving nature of AV cybersecurity, as it establishes security objectives focused on outcomes without prescribing specific cybersecurity measures that need to be implemented. This approach makes use of the superior cybersecurity knowledge that stakeholders in the AV supply chain have compared to regulators. However, the effectiveness of this type of regulation requires robust enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with its provisions. These mechanisms should include monetary and non-monetary fines, as well as a combination of ex ante (preventive) and ex post (reactive) inspections. Nevertheless, no matter how carefully the ex-ante, standards-based regulation is designed, it is insufficient to create the necessary incentives to enhance the overall cybersecurity of AVs. Consequently, the strict liability regime must be employed to complement the ex-ante, standards-based regulation for AV cybersecurity.