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Autonomous Vehicle Accident Lawyer in Austin, TX
When a driverless vehicle hits you, there is no driver to exchange information with, no one to cite, and no personal auto policy to claim against. What there is instead is a company, a fleet, and an extraordinary volume of sensor data recording exactly what the vehicle saw and decided. Texas now requires a company to hold authorization from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to operate an automated vehicle commercially. The Law Offices of Brent A. Devere handles driverless vehicle claims in Austin and across Central Texas.
The answers below provide general information and are not legal advice for your specific situation.
Frequently asked questions
The company that deployed and operated it, and potentially several others. With no human driver there is no individual defendant and no personal policy, so the claim runs against the operator, the vehicle manufacturer, the developer of the automated driving system, and any contractor responsible for maintenance or remote support. Which of those actually caused the crash is a question the vehicle's own data usually answers, once you can get it.
Yes. Senate Bill 2807, passed by the 89th Legislature in 2025 and codified in Subchapter J of Chapter 545 of the Transportation Code, requires a company to obtain authorization from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles before commercially operating a vehicle with an engaged automated driving system. TxDMV has authority to issue, restrict, and revoke that authorization, and the Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement handle enforcement on the road.
The statute took effect September 1, 2025. TxDMV adopted the implementing rules effective February 27, 2026, and the authorization requirement became enforceable May 28, 2026, ninety days after the rules landed. The staged timeline matters, because whether a company was required to hold authorization on the date of a particular crash depends on which of those dates the crash falls after.
That does not decide fault by itself, but it is powerful evidence. Operating a commercial automated vehicle without the authorization Texas requires is a departure from a legal standard the state has set specifically for this activity, and departures from safety standards are exactly what negligence claims are built from.
No. Texas law preempts local regulation of automated vehicles, so Austin cannot impose its own operating rules, permitting, or route restrictions. The city collaborates with TxDMV and with operators, and shares local road knowledge, but the regulatory authority sits with the state. That is worth knowing because it explains why complaints to the city rarely produce a response.
An amount no ordinary crash produces. These vehicles log full sensor output including lidar, radar, and multiple camera feeds, the system's own object detection and classification, its planned path, its decisions in the seconds before impact, communications with any remote operator, and internal incident reports generated afterward. In principle it is the most completely documented category of vehicle crash that exists.
No. It is proprietary, it is commercially sensitive, and it is produced through litigation rather than on request. It is also subject to internal retention schedules. A written preservation demand sent immediately is what prevents routine purging, and it needs to identify the vehicle, the time, and the location precisely enough that the company cannot claim it could not locate the records.
You were a paying passenger of a commercial transportation service, which in Texas means the operator owed you the heightened duty a common carrier owes its passengers rather than ordinary care. The coverage answering your claim is the operator's commercial policy, not a personal auto policy, and those limits are typically far larger. You also carry no share of the fault.
It matters a great deal, and it is more common than the marketing suggests. Many driverless fleets use remote assistance, where a person in a control center advises or intervenes when the vehicle encounters something it cannot resolve. If a human made a decision, that person's employer is responsible for it in the same way it would be for any employee, and the communications log becomes central evidence.
No. These are private companies, so no governmental immunity applies and no Tort Claims Act cap applies. Their liability coverage is typically far larger than any personal auto policy, which matters in a category of crash that tends to involve pedestrians and cyclists at intersections.
Two years from the crash under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003. The practical deadline is much earlier. Sensor and operational data is the whole case, and it sits entirely in the hands of the company you would be suing.
The firm is based in Austin and represents clients throughout Texas, primarily in Travis County, Williamson County, and Bastrop County.
Board certification by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization recognizes attorneys who demonstrate substantial experience in a specific area of law, pass a rigorous examination, and receive peer review.Brent A. Devere is Board Certified in Consumer and Commercial Law, Consumer Bankruptcy Law, Residential Real Estate Law, and Commercial Real Estate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.Working with a board-certified attorney means your case is handled by a lawyer with proven knowledge, experience, and commitment in their field.
The initial consultation is free. You can call the Austin office or use the contact form to schedule one, and there is no cost or obligation to discuss your situation.
Yes. The firm handles most types of litigation. If your matter isn't listed among the practice areas, contact the office to discuss whether the firm can help.
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