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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  • A Story of Two Transportation Projects: India’s Bullet Train and Sri Lanka’s Port

    Two infrastructure projects in South Asia were built on the promises of East Asian trading partners and on extensive lines of credit. Though both are characterized by extensive delays, why is one celebrated as an important step forward towards infrastructure modernization, and the other derided as “debt-trap diplomacy”? In…
  • Free The T: Realistic or Impossible?

    Across the country, a number of  transit systems are looking to redefine what it means to take public transportation through facilitating cost-reduction or free transit programs. These programs may contribute to a reduction in pollution and benefit low-income riders by making transportation less expensive and more reliable. Cities in…
  • Will New Electric Buses Need a Mini Bar?

    Let’s talk about the stigma of the bus. Public transit in the United States is not particularly robust or well-funded compared to its European or Asian counterparts. The American bus system in particular is stigmatized; Americans associate the bus with poverty, crime, and filth. This stigma is not entirely unwarranted,…
  • Clean Energy Credits and Electric Vehicles

    This blog is the first in a series about electric vehicles (EVs) in various forms of public and private means of transportation, as well as the unanswered legal and policy questions surrounding electrification. More posts about EVs will follow. CLEAN ENERGY CREDITS              The terms “clean…
  • Deep In the Weeds of the Levels of Automation Lurks an Ambiguous Minimal Risk Condition

    Are you familiar with SAE J3016, the recommended practice that defines, among many other terms, the widely (mis)cited levels of driving automation? You can be! You could read one of the many purported (and often erroneous) summaries of it. You could read my short gloss on it. Or you could read…
    • Essay
    • January, 2022

    Facial Recognition, Privacy, and the First Amendment

    This blog is the forth in a series about facial recognition software in various forms of public and private means of transportation, as well as the greater public policy concerns of facial recognition tools. More posts about the relationship between transportation technology, FRS, and fundamental rights will follow.
    • Essay
    • December, 2021

    America’s Favorite Pastimes: Do Amusement Parks Inspire Transportation Innovation?

    Recreation transportation is an entire industry. We seek different and exciting forms of transportation all the time, and often it’s just for fun. Whether it’s ATVs, jet skis, horseback riding, biking, or walking around a new city to see the sights, transportation is part of all of our recreational activities.
    • Essay
    • December, 2021

    California’s AV Testing Rules Apply To Tesla’s “FSD”

    Five years to the day after I criticized Uber for testing its self-proclaimed “self-driving” vehicles on California roads without complying with the testing requirements of California’s automated driving law, I find myself criticizing Tesla for testing its self-proclaimed “full self-driving” vehicles on California roads without complying with the testing requirements…
    • Essay
    • December, 2021

    Regulatory and Legislative Hurdles with the Advent of AV Technology in India

    This blog post is written by Akshaya Kapoor, who is a fourth year student in the B.B.A LL.B (Hons.) Programme at the Jindal Global Law School (O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India). From an International Law perspective, the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968, which is an…
    • Essay
    • November, 2021

    Technology Racism and Facial Recognition Software in Transportation

    This blog post is the third in a series about facial recognition software in various forms of public and private means of transportation, as well as the greater public policy concerns of facial recognition tools. More posts about the relationship between transportation technology, FRS, and modern slavery will follow.