On 7 December 2019, the Law Faculty of the Renmin University of China in Peking hosted the “Second International Forum” on the topic of “Automated Driving and its Legal Framework”. The forum was organized by the Institute for Law and Technology of the Renmin University, the Sino-German Legal Cooperation Programme of the GIZ, the “Robot Law” research centre of the University of Würzburg, and by Audi AG. The forum’s participants included Chinese, German and American civil servants, practitioners and scientists from the German Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, from universities and research institutes, as well as from Audi and VW.
The forum was devoted to the technical challenges and the legal framework of automated driving in China, Germany, and the United States of America. Theodora Hamsen of the German Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure gave a presentation on recent German legislation on automated driving. Prof. Eric Hilgendorf of the University of Würzburg addressed the legal questions surrounding automated driving. Further presentations concerned the special technical features of automated driving, questions of liability, legal questions on the gathering and use of geodata, and the protection of private data. In the subsequent panel discussion, the representatives of the ministries, the automotive industry, and of science debated the role of law in the introduction of automated driving and the relationship between innovation and risk. The participants agreed that the fruitful exchange on this topic between the private sector, lawmakers, and scientists should be continued.