Autonomous trucks are now operating on California highways, and a prominent El Cajon truck accident lawyer says that changes how fault is determined when a crash occurs. Under regulations the California DMV adopted on April 28, companies can test autonomous trucks over 10,001 pounds. Each must start with a safety driver behind the wheel and log 500,000 miles per phase before moving to driverless operations. Kodiak AI and Aurora have received testing permits, and on September 22, Kodiak began hauling freight between Fresno and Los Angeles. The Teamsters are challenging the rules in Alameda County Superior Court.
For East County drivers, the arrival of self-driving big rigs on Interstate 8 and State Routes 67 and 125 raises urgent questions about who pays when something goes wrong. Barry P. Goldberg, A Professional Law Corporation, whose truck accident lawyer in El Cajon, CA represents injured people, is advising drivers on how fault works in these cases.
"A self-driving truck doesn't change the basic question of who caused the crash. It changes how many companies may share the answer," said Barry P. Goldberg, founder of the firm and a recognized authority on uninsured and underinsured motorist law in California. "The key evidence lives in the truck's software and sensor logs, and the companies on the other side control those records."
In conventional truck crashes, fault can rest with the driver, the trucking company, the business that loaded the cargo, or the shop that maintained the vehicle. Self-driving trucks add two new layers. The safety driver: during testing, a human operator must sit behind the wheel, and an operator who fails to take control can share fault with the carrier that employs them. The technology company: when an automated driving system malfunctions, injured people may pursue a product liability claim against the company that designed it.
This matters beyond the courtroom. As more autonomous trucks log miles, crash victims could face a web of corporate defendants, each with teams of lawyers and control over the data needed to prove fault. The Teamsters' lawsuit could delay or reshape the rules, but until a court says otherwise, the testing continues.
Goldberg advises injured people to note the company names on the truck and to contact a lawyer early, so every company involved receives a letter requiring it to keep its records, including software and sensor logs. Whatever happens with the Teamsters' lawsuit, California law still lets victims pursue every party that contributed to the crash.
