Paper short abstract:

This paper traces the regulatory processes around the emerging technological zone of autonomous driving, looking at how law and technology are co-producing each other.

Paper long abstract:

Autonomous driving is an emerging technology currently in an phase of experimental testing. Contrary to theories of law "lagging behind" technology, regulatory bodies are already active in shaping the legal and infrastructural environment of autonomous driving before the technology is mature. Since autonomous driving is a technology that is dependent on sensing and acting in an external environment, it is dependent of a stabilizing regulatory framework to fully materialize as a technology.

This paper puts the notion of "code-is-law" in perspective by tracing the regulatory processes around the emerging technological zone of autonomous driving. It argues that legal texts, regulatory bodies, stakeholder networks, and both existing and expected developments in hardware and software are actors in a negotiation of power over the stabilization of autonomous driving as a socio-technical phenomena, including not only the autonomous vehicle itself but surrounding technologies and infrastructures, as well as social norms and regulatory frameworks.