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Spring/Summer 2018

Law and Technology

@UMICHLAW

New Law and Mobility Transformation Project Driven by Michigan Law

Photo of people announcing the launch of the Journal at ITS America — Announcing the launch of the Journal at ITS America: (left to right) Mcity Deputy Director Carrie Morton; Michigan Council on Future Mobility Co-chairman John Peracchio; Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law Daniel Crane, co-editor-in-chief of the J

Michigan Law and U-M’s Mcity, in close collaboration with Michigan Gov. 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, housed at Michigan Law, serves as a collaborative legal solutions incubator to Mcity, which focuses its research on leading the transition to a new world of connected and automated vehicles.

“With its rich history and deep roots in automotive technology, Michigan has long pioneered mobility transformation,” says Daniel Crane, the Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law. “Michigan Law’s faculty have been working on the legal issues that challenge automated vehicle technology for some time, including with Mcity and its partners. This project is a natural fit for us.”

The U-M Law and Mobility Transformation Project includes the Journal of Law and Mobility. The digital journal will include analysis of legislative, regulatory, or technological developments, as well as short essays and long-form academic research. The project also will facilitate a speaker series focused on timely topics in law and mobility transformation and an annual conference co-organized with the Mcity Legal Working Group.

The project, jointly sponsored by Michigan Law, Mcity, and the U-M Office of the Provost, is co-directed by Crane and Bryant Walker Smith, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and a well-known expert on the law of driverless vehicles.

It also is an extension of the work Crane and Smith began together as faculty in the Law School’s Problem Solving Initiative, where they work with transdisciplinary teams of graduate and professional students to explore industry, government, and academic solutions to the challenges—legal and otherwise—resulting from connected and automated vehicle technology.

Find the Journal of Law and Mobility and additional information about the Law and Mobility Transformation Project at futurist.law.umich.edu and on Twitter at @Futurist_Law.

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