Stanford CIS
Bryant Walker Smith

Bryant Walker Smith

Affiliate Scholar

Bryant Walker Smith is an associate professor in the School of Law and (by courtesy) the College of Engineering at the University of South Carolina as well as an affiliate scholar at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. He is also vice chair of the US Department of Transportation's Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee.

Trained as a lawyer and an engineer, Bryant advises cities, states, countries, and the United Nations on emerging transport technologies. He coauthored the globally influential levels of driving automation, drafted a model state law for automated driving, and taught the first legal course dedicated to automated driving (in 2012). Bryant is currently writing on what it means for a company to be trustworthy. His publications are available at newlypossible.org.

Before joining the University of South Carolina, Bryant 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. He 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, Bryant worked as a transportation engineer.

Recent articles

Blog

Over-the-air updates and regulatory recalls

Automakers (including Tesla, Daimer, Ford, and GM) as well as automated-driving developers (including Waymo and Cruise) have recalled vehicles by pushing over-t…

Blog

On Cruise's Crash (and Quinn's Report)

Cruise has now released a preliminary report by Quinn Emanuel, the law firm that the company hired to review its response to its infamous October 2023 crash in…

Robotics

An Academic Vision for AI Ethics

In early 2022 I was asked to write a brief statement on an academic vision for AI ethics. As this topic has become only more important in the year since, I thou…

Blog

DALL-E Does Palsgraf

A new article, written in 2022 and published in 2023 -- with pictures! The article asks a leading AI tool for image generation to illustrate the facts of a lea…

Blog

An Academic Vision for AI Ethics

In early 2022 I was asked to write a brief statement on an academic vision for AI ethics. As this topic has become only more important in the year since, I thou…

Blog

On Remote Driving

The Law Commission in the United Kingdom recently completed its massive study on domestic legal reform for automated driving. As the UK government works to impl…