Page - (000181) - in Autonomes Fahren - Technische, rechtliche und gesellschaftliche Aspekte

1698.5 Analysis Although by no means definitive, the research conducted here suggests some other interesting patterns that deserve further attention as well as some soft and preliminary conclusions. First, the kind of regulatory competition seen in the United States, may be spreading to the international level as countries vie with each other for technological leadership in a newly emerging field. Autonomous driving is not only about the automotive industry but about many other industrial branches that will profit from a higher degree of automation such as component suppliers. This is why there is a growing interest in promoting location- al advantages and why political commitments are starting to be made in some countries to support certain development paths. Second, smaller automobile companies (e. g. Volvo, Nissan) and non-traditional players (e. g. Google) moved earlier with autonomous vehicle technologies to gain public and political attention compared with the bigger, more established automotive manufacturers (including German manufacturers). One might read into this that given that autonomous driving technologies are still at early stages of development, larger companies have been wary about taking reputational risks with still unproven technologies. Smaller companies may be more willing to take such risks since they are dependent on leadership advantage. Geels argues that incumbent firms’ interest in radical and transformative change is gener- ally not very high since incumbents have typically sunk investments in existing technolo- gies, skills, and people. He further points to the characteristics of more radical changes being riskier and leading to changes that may not match existing competencies [27]. Third, autonomous vehicles are portrayed as highly innovative and demonstrative of a nation’s technological (and economical) leadership capabilities by stakeholders, yet political leaders have not played much of a role in trying to promote autonomous vehicle technology in public. Fully automated vehicle technology is in an early development stage. How it fits into dominant strategic visions for mobility or how realistic commercialization of the technology is, is still not clear which may explain why only limited political actions have been taken. Fourth, the Zero-Accident-Vision has been an important message for developers of autonomous vehicles and component suppliers. The vision appears to play a larger role in the United States where there are higher fatality rates than is the case in Europe or Japan although in all countries considered, greater use of remote sensing and other technologies is seen as a means of improving traffic safety. Fifth, links to efficiency and environmental protection are found in all countries, but are especially strong in Japan and Europe. And within Europe, Sweden is pursuing this image quite aggressively. Sixth, there are many unsolved questions with regard to accountability, data protection, the legal framework as well as social and ethical considerations. These issues are only slowly beginning to be debated. The possible impacts of autonomous driving on mobility behaviours and human-machine interactions as well as data protection and acceptance aspects will need to be studied and addressed. Indeed, nowhere has there been much political attention paid to the societal implications of greater use of autonomous vehicle