Autonomous Vehicles And Antitrust

It has taken a little longer than I expected when I first began writing about driverless cars a decade ago, but autonomous vehicles are here and will eventually be ubiquitous. USA Today recently described how Robotaxis are taking hold, while the Financial Times has reported on how driverless trucks will revolutionize freight transportation.

The social and economic changes accompanying the spread of autonomous vehicles will be profound. These shifts will also raise important legal issues, one of which — currently receiving little attention — is antitrust. For more than a century, a fundamental objective of U.S. antitrust law has been to prevent competitors from coordinating or agreeing on prices or other key features of product offerings, in order to protect consumers. Despite harsh penalties for antitrust violations, misconduct remains pervasive. The powerful temptation for some competitors to coordinate, at the expense of their customers, may be amplified as the