"Frank Slootweg" wrote

| In our country - The Netherlands - and probably in most of Europe, the
| driver is liable by default, because the pedestrian is a 'vulnerable'
| party. A vulnerable party is never *liable*. (S)He might have commited a
| (traffic) *offense*, but is never liable, at least not to any large
| percentage.

I think it's about the same here. In theory a
bicycle and a car have equal right of way, but
if a bicyclist slams into me or cuts in front of me
suddenly. I'll be the one who gets sued.

Given that, the police chief seems to be saying
that the driver in the robocar had no responsibility
as a driver but was instead just a passenger, with
no duty to watch the road. It'll be interesting to
see how it pans out.