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ARTICLE · 25 SEPTEMBER 2024

Automakers & Regulators Disagree Over Emerging Technology

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC
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Emerging automotive technology has created novel questions about who should regulate access to personal and mechanical data in vehicles.

United StatesConsumer Protection
Jessalyn H. Zeigler
Jessalyn H. Zeigler
Jeremy A. Gunn
Jeremy A. Gunn

Emerging automotive technology has created novel questions about who should regulate access to personal and mechanical data in vehicles. Automakers in particular have found it difficult to determine whether the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 (the Safety Act) conflicts with state laws and regulations that govern emerging technology. The lack of a federal regulatory scheme governing emerging technology in vehicles has led to litigation as automakers are forced to determine whether to comply with or challenge the enforcement of certain state laws.

Challenge to Massachusetts' Right to Repair Law

This issue came to a head in Alliance for Automotive Innovation v. Andrea Joy Campbell, 1:20-cv-12090, (D. Mass.), in which an automotive trade group that represents automakers (Automotive Innovation) sued Massachusetts' attorney general, challenging the state's "right to repair" law (the Data Access Law), which gave vehicle owners the ability to

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