Essays
The Journal of Law and Mobility publishes short, persuasive essays by industry leaders, academics, professionals, and the Journal editors and staff. Essays respond to current events, as well as legal and policy debates. Submissions of essays between 800 and 2,000 words are always welcome.
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Keep the Driver in Driverless Cars
Let’s take a few cues from the aviation industry. As a law professor who studies mobility, I spend many waking hours thinking about fully automated vehicles, those cars that drive themselves without any need for a human operator. As a true believer in this technology, I think the widespread deployment…
Apple Came Out for Right to Repair. Toyota Should Too.
In August, Apple declared support for California’s right to repair bill. Plausibly, their reason for an about face to supporting right to repair is that regulation will provide them a competitive advantage; because “Apple has been building an industry lead on repairable devices,” they are better positioned than competitors to comply. By…
Applying Lessons from Securities Regulation to Intelligent Transportation Systems
In the 1970s, Congress authorized the Securities and Exchange Commission to “facilitate the establishment of a national market system for the trading of securities.” The SEC’s approach, in large part, was to direct the exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to come up with solutions themselves subject to the…Perfection is the Enemy of Good Where AVs Succeed
News articles about automated transportation technologies consistently imply that the challenge of scaling and expanding destines the technology to be if not useless then at least a bit silly. This attitude is both wrong and unproductive in solving major transportation and climate related problems. For example, a Scientific American article about delivery…E-Waste and Cars Need to Meet in the Right to Repair Debate
The debate on right to repair continues to rage. Right to repair laws have passed in New York, Colorado, Minnesota, and Massachusets, and upwards of 30 other states have pending legislation. Yet at the end of June, NHTSA sent a letter to 22 automotive…Drivers Look at Infotainment, but Law Doesn’t.
In the Law and Mobility Journal’s 2018 publication “Vehicle Rental Laws: Road Blocks to Evolving Mobility Models?”, the authors referenced a putative class action suit, Kramer v. Avis Budget Group, in support of the observation that “recently, vehicle infotainment systems…have come under scrutiny.” This blog post follows up on that case…Exporting Used Vehicles to African Countries: Law and Policy to Promote Safety and Environmental Considerations
What happens to a used vehicle when we are done with it? Does somebody else drive it? If so, who is that somebody and where do they drive? Many used vehicles are exported to developing countries with a total of 40% of the world’s used vehicles spread throughout the African continent.Charging an Electric Rental Car in a Rural Community: Reflections and Lessons Learned
Anybody who works in the transportation technology space has certainly participated in some intense conversations about the environmental consequences of internal combustion engines (ICEs) in our car-centric society. I have personally spent a lot of time over the past couple of years considering if electrification is truly better for the…Paying for Florida’s Highway Infrastructure in Light of the Feud Between Disney and DeSantis
Highway infrastructure is notoriously the responsibility of public entities. Usually, the federal government provides grants to state and local governments to build and maintain highways. There are a few notable exceptions. For the last several decades, there has been a significant portion of highway infrastructure in central Florida that…On the Wrong Side of the Road: Addressing Racial Disparities in Pedestrian and Cyclist Accidents
This blog post was written by guest author John Mattiacci, who is an experienced personal injury lawyer. Pedestrian and cyclist accidents are on the rise in the United States, and people of color are disproportionately impacted by these incidents. According to a recent report by the National Highway…