In July 2020, the Regional Court Munich I (file no. 33 O 14041/19) prohibited Tesla from using the term “autopilot” and other statements on its German website advertising the driver assistance features of its electric cars. The Court ruled that Tesla’s commercial statements regarding autopilot and autonomous driving were misleading (“irreführende geschäftliche Handlung”) pursuant to German competition
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Another step towards Australia’s autonomous vehicle future
Like all self-respecting waves of disruption, autonomous vehicles (AVs) are challenging the status quo. Their adoption calls for a need to balance touted benefits against possible risks, and shines a light on obstacles under existing laws that govern the interactions between humans and vehicles.
Among other benefits, AVs could significantly improve road safety by avoiding…
US Transportation Agency Launches Automated Vehicle Testing Initiative (AV TEST Initiative)
The US Department of Transportation, via the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has launched the Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing Initiative (the AV TEST Initiative), a program aimed at promoting safety and transparency in the development and testing of vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS). The Initiative follows NHTSA’s prior…
Legislating for autonomous passenger transport services in the UK: Law Commissions publish summary of consultation responses
The Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission (the Commissions) have published a summary of responses to the second round of their joint consultation on legislating for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) in the UK.
The consultation is part of the Commissions’ wider three year review to prepare legislation for CAVs…
US Transportation Agency Proposes Changes to Federal Vehicle Safety Standards for Automated Vehicles
The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a proposed regulation that would update federal motor vehicle safety standards for certain vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS).
The proposed regulation, formally published March 30, 2020 and available here, would revise safety requirements, including crashworthiness 200 Series federal safety…
SoftBank to roll out first self-driving buses in Japan
SoftBank has stepped up its push to become a leading player in the driverless technology space, with an announcement that it will roll out self-driving buses in Japan from April this year.
The initiative is being led by SB Drive Corp. (“SB Drive”), a joint venture formed in April 2016 between SoftBank and Advanced Smart…
Latest U.S. Guidelines Keep Autonomous Vehicle Standards Voluntary
Earlier this month, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas new autonomous vehicle (“AV”) guidelines which rely on voluntary standards, to the disappointment of auto safety advocates who have called for specific regulations.
The new guidelines, “AV 4.0“, expand on previous iterations of AV…
Protecting CAV Trade Secrets
The theft of trade secrets has been front and centre in recent high-profile legal disputes involving former employees of key players in the connected autonomous vehicle (CAV) space. They serve as a good reminder of the importance of and challenges in protecting commercially valuable information. This blog post covers some of the measures businesses can…
NTSB determines immediate cause of fatal Uber crash was failure of human operator
Following an 18-month investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its conclusions on the fatal collision between an Uber-owned autonomous vehicle and a pedestrian in Arizona last year. As reported in our previous blog post, Arizona prosecutors determined that Uber was not criminally liable for the crash. Now, NTSB has concluded that…
China advances passenger-carrying road tests of self-driving vehicles
Following Guangzhou’s pilot program that allowed connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) to carry passengers at the end of 2018, more Chinese cities have started promulgating new road testing rules to give the green light to self-driving vehicles undertaking passenger-carrying road tests. In this blog post we consider these recent regulatory changes and how they may…