research - legal aspects of new technologies

Recently the Kraków branch of the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) held social consultations on issuance of a permit to conduct research in the form of a test drive of an autonomous car. Such consultations are required under Art. 65l of the Road Traffic Law of 20 June 1997.

According to an announcement from GDDKiA, the aim of the test drive is to study certain aspects of operating an autonomous car under actual traffic conditions (not artificial conditions). The tested car previously underwent a range of simulations, but now must be tested in road conditions.

Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) is a system in which information is shared between vehicles (V2V) and between vehicles and infrastructure (V2I). In general, this technology is intended to aid the flow of anonymised information on driving conditions. It seems however that DSRC might also entail collection and processing of personal data.

The green light may have been given, but it is not glowing very brightly. Amendments to the Polish Road Traffic Law suggest a real possibility of self-driving cars becoming widely used in Poland. The new rules will allow roads to be used for testing autonomous vehicles. The act is also the first act in the Polish legal system to define an autonomous vehicle, which is a vehicle fitted with systems that control the vehicle’s movement and enable it to move without driver interaction, which a driver can take control over at any time (Art. 65k).

R&D relief was included in Poland’s income tax law from 1 January 2016. A year later, under the “Small Innovation Act,” major changes were introduced to make the incentives more attractive.

Consumers and producers alike complain that labels on food products are hard to understand. Could the solution for crowding in too much information be an electronic label where data of interest to the consumer could be checked using a smartphone app?

Lawyers from Wardyński & Partners participated in the conference “Combat Drone Systems in the Eyes of Society” organised by a coalition of NGOs as part of the campaign “5 Tonnes over Earth.”