Bryant Walker Smith

Drones. Robots. Self-driving cars. These emerging technologies are exciting and scary. Along with other innovations that have yet to capture the public’s imagination, they have the potential to transform society, culture, governance and the economy. This is a transformation full of uncertainty, including fundamental questions of risk, responsibility and authority. As a lawyer and an engineer, Bryant Walker Smith is helping the world navigate all that is “newly possible.”

For Smith, self-driving vehicles exemplify the promise and peril of today’s innovation. An assistant professor of law and (by courtesy) engineering at the University of South Carolina, he has earned a global reputation as an expert on the law of these vehicles. He taught the first-ever course on the topic, published an influential analysis of the legality of automated driving, and is regularly consulted by government, industry and media.

Smith – who is also an affiliate scholar at Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society and chair of the Emerging Technology Law Committee of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies – also looks beyond any single innovation to understand the larger relationship between law and technology. For example, he argues in “Proximity-Driven Liability” that over-the-air updates, customer tracking, and end-user license agreements could increase the liability of manufacturers and other sellers. Smith’s other publications are at newlypossible.org.

Before joining the University of South Carolina, Smith led the legal aspects of automated driving program at Stanford University, clerked for the Hon. Evan J. Wallach at the United States Court of International Trade, and worked as a fellow at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

A member of the New York Bar, Smith holds both an LL.M. in International Legal Studies and a J.D. (cum laude) from New York University School of Law and a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin. Prior to his legal career, Smith worked as a transportation engineer.