Autonomous vehicles and the law

In this episode of Law, disrupted, host John B. Quinn joins Lee Papageorge, Head of Litigation at Cruise, a self-driving car company and subsidiary of GM, headquartered in San Francisco, and Charles K. Verhoeven, Partner in Quinn Emanuel’s San Francisco office and Co-Chair of the firm’s National Intellectual Property Litigation Practice. 

The conversation kicks off by covering the race to commercialize self-driving vehicles. Amid rapid advancements in technology that remove the need for human intervention, the sector faces complex challenges of introducing a vehicle that can implement these safely and legally.

The participants then move on to the discussion of IP rights and protecting emerging technologies in this domain. Referencing the “Waymo v. Uber” settlement, John and his guests unpack why many companies opt for trade secret protection, and broach the current limitations on patents resulting from the market being in its infancy.

Finally, they assess who can be held liable for accidents caused by self-driving cars, and the pivotal role engineers will play in the infrastructure needed to support adoption of autonomous vehicles.