Hands Off the Wheel: The Role of Law in the Coming Extinction of Human-Driven Vehicles

Abstract

Law and technology scholars have been writing about the coming release of fully autonomous vehicles for quite some time, and yet there is a significant gap in that literature. The United States has experienced a technology-driven upheaval in transportation once already, and it did so almost exactly 100 years ago when society transitioned (surprisingly rapidly) from horses to automobiles. No legal scholar has, as of yet, explored that transition at any length and asked what it can teach us about the role law and lawmaking should play in the coming transition between human-driven and fully autonomous vehicles. This is a huge oversight. This Article attempts to remedy this and to explain what we can learn from our earlier transition and how that historical precedent should guide our thinking on the legal issues surrounding autonomous vehicles now. Most notably, history suggests that we are overemphasizing the importance of law during this coming period of transition, particularly as compared to other factors such as economic incentives, convenience factors, and consumer preference.

Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles, Self-Driving Cars, Driverless Cars, Law & Technology, Emerging Technology, Transportation Law, Legal History, Regulation, Product Liability, Product Bans, Economic Incentives, Convenience Incentives, Consumer Preference, Automobiles, Horses