Have you seen that Buick commercial where the same actress plays four versions of herself and all the versions of herself are amazed when the car parallel parks all by itself?

That's a really tight spot. Don't worry. I used to hate parallel parking. Me too.

What a world. Self-driving cars are supposed to be the feature and companies are spending a bunch of money on the technology

but what happens when your robot car crashes into someone and kills them?

Is it going to be your fault?

Or the technology that just failed you?

I'm Gustavo Ariano. You're listening to The Times, Daily News from the LA Times.

It's Friday, February 4, 2022.

A first of its kind case in Los Angeles County is going to play a big role in determining culpability

whenever self-driving cars get into accidents.

Prosecutors have charged a driver with

felony manslaughter after his Tesla crashed into a car in 2019 and killed two people. The accused

was in the driver's seat, but prosecutors say his Tesla was an autopilot.

Russ Mitchell covers the automobile industry for the Los Angeles Times.

Russ, welcome to the Times.

Hey, thanks for having me.

So when we talk about automated driving, self-driving cars, there's all sorts of different levels and definitions.

What are some of them?

The Society of Automotive Engineers has a ranking that goes from level zero to level five.

Level one is cruise control and the like, the old-fashioned kind.

Level two are things like autopilot, which still require driver supervision,

and then it builds up from there all the way to a level five,

...