Page - (000166) - in Autonomes Fahren - Technische, rechtliche und gesellschaftliche Aspekte

Autonomous Driving – Political, Legal, Social, and Sustainability Dimensions154 latory decisions with little preparatory or learning time and with few existing experiences to draw upon. In some cases, political actors may decide to try to accelerate the development of certain technologies and their large scale application. We have seen examples of policy-driven development with, for example, nuclear and renewable energies. In these cases, govern- ments set incentives to support the development of these technologies, e. g. with research and development funding, support schemes, loans, the provision of infrastructure, and the taking over of liability risks even though in some countries, there were later decisions to phase out the use of a particular technology. There are also various examples in the transport sector, where state actors aimed at paving the way for certain technological choices. Apart from providing road infrastructure and thereby supporting individual automotive transport systems, e-mobility is a recent example of an attempt by policy-makers to help boost the implementation of a particular technology on a larger scale [9]. Policy makers do not typically like to intervene in the workings of market economies but at times may feel pressured to do so. As Edquist formulates it, “[t]here must be a ‘prob- lem’ – which is not automatically solved by market forces and capitalist actors – for public intervention to be considered” [14]. Different factors may be behind a decision to support new technologies or technological applications. Policy makers may choose to promote a technology’s development in order to support the competitiveness of a domestic industry, in response to problem-pressures (e. g. safety or environmental factors), to experiment with new technological possibilities, or in reaction to international developments. As Edler and his colleagues put it: “Public innovation policy aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the economy or of selected sectors, in order to increase social welfare through knowledge creation and economic suc- cess” [12]. Numerous studies illustrate the importance of political intervention especially in the field of environmental policy innovation (see e. g. [30], [31], [32]). There are several ways political actors can support the development and diffusion of new technologies. They may encourage and support the development of expert networks, finance research and development, create demand for a certain technology (e. g. by setting up support schemes or mandating government purchasing of a technology), and, by pro- viding basic infrastructure (for a summary of approaches see [35]). Research support has been relevant in the development of autonomous vehicle technologies as well. States that are lagging behind in the technology are now scrambling to catch up. Since innovations go through various phases (see e. g. [26], [36]), governmental interventions may also be limited to particular innovation stages of a technology. 8.3 Visions of autonomous driving in Europe Visions of the future can both influence and reflect regulatory debates and their public perception. Visions for autonomous driving are being shaped by various stakeholders who have their own interests in advancing particular framings. When particular framings of a