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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Don’t Forget to Tip Your (Robotic) Delivery Driver
This fall we’ve spent a fair amount of time talking about how connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) will change the structure of our cities, from the curb, to public transit, and beyond. In my last post before the holidays, I want to take a look at how…Tesla Autopilot Collides with the 4th Amendment
By Jesse Halfon Last month, two California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers made news following an arrest for drunk driving. What made the arrest unusual was that the officers initially observed the driver asleep behind the wheel while the car, a Tesla Model S, drove 70 mph on Autopilot,…The Battle For the Curb
Recently, Kevin wrote about how CAVs could alter the shape of cities. While CAV deployment is still in its infancy, the boom in ride sharing is already changing the design of cities. In Washington, D.C. the city government has announced the creation of five pickup and drop off…Integrating CAVs into Existing Public Transportation Infrastructure
I’ve written in recent weeks about the impact of autonomous vehicles on city design. Choices made by both city planners and CAV operators in the coming decades will play key roles in determining whether our new transportation paradigm is one of compact, walkable cityscapes that accommodate traffic of…California Takes the Leap on Driverless CAVs
California has become the second state in the nation to permit connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) to operate on public roads without a safety driver. With the recent announcement that Waymo has obtained approval to test driverless CAVs in a handful of Northern California communities, the state joins…Through the Woods: A Thanksgiving Round Up of Mobility Innovations
In the U.S., Thanksgiving represents the busiest travel period of the year, with AAA predicting that this year 54 million people will travel 50 miles or more before sitting down for turkey and stuffing. So how will CAVs and other mobility innovations change how we travel, not just at Thanksgiving,…CAVs and the Traffic Stop
The traffic stop has long been a primary point of interaction between police and the community. As consent Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations into local police departments in Ferguson, Baltimore, and Chicago made clear in recent years, they are also a moment that is open to large-scale…CAVs, Big Data, and the Future of Urban Design
City design has long been shaped by modes of transportation. The transition is easy to spot as you move westward across America. Relatively compact eastern cities initially grew up in the 18th and 19th centuries, when people traveled by foot or by horse. Scattered across the plains, and particularly throughout…Automakers Must Exercise Advertising Caution on the Road Toward Autonomous Vehicles
Tesla’s enthusiastic marketing of its Autopilot feature may be landing the company in legal hot water. Last week, a Florida man sued the car manufacturer after his Model S crashed into a stalled vehicle at high speed. The driver, who allegedly suffered spinal and brain injuries, claims that Tesla’s…How Will CAVs Change the Shape of Our Cities?
The rapidly approaching deployment of commercially available CAVs has led city planners to begin grappling with the ways in which this new technology is expected to shape our built environment. A 2017 report from MIT’s Urban Economics Lab and Center for Real Estate, financed by Capital One, explores…