Autonomous robot liability: the legal framework
Autonomous robots — self-driving machines, industrial manipulators, service robots — act in the physical world and can cause damage. Georgia has no statute specifically devoted to robots, and this does not mean a legal vacuum: such damage is assessed under the norms of the Georgian Civil Code on defective products, which regulate the producer's liability. This page examines how this framework works for devices in which decisions are taken by software.
The anchor norm is Article 1009 of the Civil Code: the producer of a defective product is liable for damage caused by that product, regardless of whether he was in a contractual relationship with the injured party. This is an important detail: the producer of a robot that caused damage may have no relationship with the injured person — liability still exists if the product is defective.