New digital legal journal on autonomous cars launched

Michigan Law and U-M’s Mcity, in close collaboration with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, ’82, and the Michigan Council on Future Mobility, have announced the launch of a new Law and Mobility Project to promote research, education, and scholarship focused on the intersection of law and mobility transformation. The Project serves as a collaborative legal solutions incubator, engaging thought leaders from the state of Michigan and beyond, and focuses on activities relating to connected and automated vehicles and mobility transformation more generally.

The U-M Law and Mobility Project will include the Michigan Journal of Law and Mobility, a new digital platform (futurist.law. umich.edu, @FuturistLaw) tracking research, scholarship, and leading developments at the intersection of mobility transformation and law, including short essays and academic pieces, as well as analysis of legislative, regulatory, and technological developments.

The Michigan Journal of Law and Mobility co-editors-in-chief are Daniel Crane, U-M’s Fredrick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law, and Bryant Walker Smith, an assistant professor of law and engineering at the University of South Carolina and a well-known expert on the law of driverless vehicles. The editorial board also includes: Carrie Morton, Mcity deputy director; Steven Croley, partner at Latham & Watkins; Emily Frascaroli, counsel at Ford Motor Company; Kyle D. Logue, U-M’s Douglas A. Kahn Collegiate Professor of Law; Ellen Partridge, senior fellow at the Environmental Law & Policy Center; Bryce Pilz, ’00, director of licensing in the U-M Office Technology Transfer; and Anuj Pradhan, a researcher at the U-M Transportation Research Institute.

In addition to the Journal, the U-M Law and Mobility Project encompasses a speaker series focused on timely topics in law and mobility transformation and an annual conference co-organized with Mcity. In addition, the Project serves as a resource for classes in the Law School’s Problem Solving Initiative, which brings together transdisciplinary teams of graduate students with industry experts to explore solutions to the challenges presented by mobility transformation, such as preparing for a mixed fleet future, the coordination of business and regulatory issues, and how to address the data that is collected by autonomous vehicle networks.