Texas A&M Law Review Volume 1 Issue 3 2014 Automated Vehicles Are Probably Legal in the United States Bryant Walker Smith Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/lawreview Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Bryant W. Smith, Automated Vehicles Are Probably Legal in the United States, 1 Tex. A&M L. Rev. 411 (2014). Available at: https://doi.org/10.37419/LR.V1.I3.1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Texas A&M Law Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Texas A&M Law Review by an authorized editor of Texas A&M Law Scholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ARTICLES AUTOMATED VEHICLES ARE PROBABLY LEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES By: Bryant Walker Smith* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................. 412 II. INTRODUCTION .......................................... 414 III. AUTOMATED DRIVING REQUIRES NO REAL-TIME HUMAN INPUT .......................................... 419 IV. THE CONVENTION ON ROAD TRAFFIC DOES NOT CATEGORICALLY PROHIBIT AUTOMATED DRIVING ..... 424 A. The Geneva Convention’s History Informs Article 8’s Driver Rule...................................... 424 B. The Vienna Convention May Also Inform Interpretation of This Rule .......................... 429 C. The Term “Driver” Is Probably Flexible ............ 433 D. Article 8 Can Faithfully Be Interpreted to Require Only Indirect Control ............................... 435 1. The Purpose of Control Is to Facilitate Safety . 435 2. Control Is Generally Regarded as Relative ..... 438 3. Article 8 Requires at Most the Ability to Intervene ....................................... 439 4. Operation Within the Bounds of Human Judgment May Also Suffice..................... 440 E. Article 8 May Nonetheless Arise Internationally or Domestically .......................................