ADDRESSING

IMPACT OF AUTOMATED
www.aliasnetwork.eu

THE LIABILITY

SYSTEMS

ALIAS is a challenging and innovative project studying the legal implications of automation in complex socio-technical systems. The Project explores the wide spectrum of the relationship between automation and liability, focusing on Air Traffic Management and Aviation but with the potential to consider other domains such as Healthcare and Oil and Gas Industry. It looks at liability attribution as an emerging fundamental issue of humantechnology interaction to be taken into account in highly automated environments. The project is co-financed by EUROCONTROL acting on behalf of the SESAR Joint Undertaking with funds from the EUROPEAN UNION as part of Work Package E.

The Project

How does automation affect liability issues in complex and safety-critical socio-technical domains? This is the central question of the ALIAS Project. In the time horizon of SESAR, that is over the next 30 years, a new generation of air traffic management systems will be developed. Such systems will be capable of augmenting todays capacity, while at the same time making traffic safer and more fluid, efficient and sustainable. To achieve this objective, new technologies will be developed

Addressing the Liability Impact of Automated Systems

with increasing automation levels. In the current operational scenario, liability is allocated to the operators that are responsible for air traffic control and air navigation (e.g. controllers and pilots). However advances in automation and technology may bring about drastic changes, questioning the allocation of liability mainly on the operators. Highly automated systems may perform actions without explicit human intervention, delegation procedures may dynamically transfer the responsibility from

controllers to pilots or to other technical systems. The automation can be analysed not just as a support to accomplish the operators tasks, but as a fundamental component of the system that shapes and conditions the human behavior. Such changes are likely to raise new legal issues related to liability for accidents, questioning the very notion of individual agency and demanding a critical revision of the human contribution to the performance of complex socio-technical systems, and consequently of criteria for liability allocation.

Objectives

Objectives and cornerstones of the project are the creation of a 'Network of Legal Research in ATM' and the development of the 'Legal Case': The 'Network of Legal Research in ATM' (www.aliasnetwork.eu) will create a multidisciplinary community that will support knowledge construction and distribution, sharing of cases and best practices, discussion on the topics of interest, archiving of documents and references useful to develop this research area.

The ALIAS project proposes a research plan on liability attribution in highly automated environments which combines theoretical investigation with an on-going online discussion with stakeholders. Participants can share their experience on the projects themes and benefit from the collaborative platform.

The 'Legal Case' is a methodological tool including recommendations and guidelines to ensure that relevant legal aspects are taken into consideration at the right stage of the design, development and deployment process.

The Network of Legal Research in ATM is a webbased community intended to create and disseminate knowledge on the aspects of liability and automation in complex socio-technical systems, in particular ATM. It provides a repository of knowledge and living discussion to feed the research activity in the field. It was officially launched during the First ALIAS Conference, held at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy) on 14-15 June 2012. The platform welcomes experts from universities,

The Network of Legal Research in ATM

research centers, industries, regulators, service providers and all other stakeholders involved in the themes of liability attribution in sociotechnical systems. The Network has more than 130 members. The current composition of the users group confirms the interdisciplinary nature of the Legal Research in ATM. Members come from several fields of study, such as technical, operational, research, legal and institutional domain. The platform of the Network is fully operational and members have the

opportunity to propose topics of interest for discussion in the context of the ALIAS project or to provide comments on topics already published. Each topic is enriched with reference material consisting of videos, slides, documents and photos. By registering for the Network, you can download our docs, presentations, videos and images related to the theme of the project from our social networks (Scribd, Flickr, YouTube and Slideshare).

To join the community, register at network.aliasnetwork.eu/register

Many of the new technologies being developed in the framework of the SESAR Programme will introduce changes in the way in which automation is supporting human performance or in the way in which humans and machines interact. This will raise significant legal questions: Is the current legal framework suitable for new automated and integrated devices? Or will the introduction of a new generation of ATM systems require a revision of the legal framework? What revisions will be needed? Is it possible to extend the scope of the design process in order to include and anticipate aspects of liability attribution that otherwise would be taken into account at later stages of technology lifecycle? The Legal Case will provide a methodological tool to start addressing these questions, providing a process to systematically identify and address the liability issues of automated ATM systems.

The Legal Case

The process includes the following 4 steps: Understand the context. This step requires the collection of a set of background information about the subject of the study (which may be an operational concept, a system, a service, or an accident). Identify liability issues. This step defines the legal implications of the subject of the study (operational concept, system, service or accident) based on an understanding of its socio-technical aspects. Perform the analysis. This step analyses the stakeholders acceptability of the legal implications defined in the previous step, proposes ways to deal with all involved legal risks, and proposes possible mitigations and recommendations for the design. Provide results and recommendations. This step presents the results of the study, highlighting the liability issues associated with the subject of the study, the ways to deal with legal risks and further recommendations.

The process can be applied in a proactive way, to address liability issues that may emerge in the design of new technologies or in a retrospective way, to address liabilities resulting from the use of existing technologies.

contact persons:

Giovanni Sartor - European University Institute giovanni.sartor@eui.eu Paola Lanzi - Deep Blue paola.lanzi@dblue.it

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