Autonomous vehicles are one of the key pillars of smart city projects. The mobility concept of smart cities is changing the dynamic between private and public actors in these projects. The new German draft bill on autonomous driving demonstrates just how closely autonomous driving and the mobility concept of smart cities are intertwined. The common denominator of all the definitions of'smart cities' is that technology and data are used to fundamentally affect the lives of the inhabitants. Thus, the large amount of collected data is essentially made centrally available to organise the city's infrastructure and services.

The government on Friday adopted a draft bill to realize its "supercity" initiative to create cities that make use of artificial intelligence, big data and other advanced technologies. In such cities, autonomous driving, cashless payments, goods delivery by drone and novel services using sophisticated technologies will be introduced in an integrated manner. Initially, the government planned to submit to the Diet a bill to revise the national strategic special zone law by the end of March. But it was unable to do that because of difficulty obtaining support from the Cabinet Legislation Bureau for related deregulation. The bill is unlikely to pass the Diet before the end of the ongoing ordinary session, set for June 26.

The National Police Agency on Thursday unveiled a draft bill that would allow vehicles with a high level of autonomous features to run on public roads, with an eye toward implementing the legislation in the first half of 2020. The bill to revise the nation's road traffic law would enable travel for what the government classifies as level 3 autonomous vehicles. Such vehicles can allow drivers to shift their attention elsewhere and let the system drive, except for during emergencies and system glitches that would require them to take back control. In the initial stage, the government may only allow the use of level 3 self-driving technology during highway traffic jams. Autonomous driving technology is classified into five categories.

Drones have been the focus of many security initiatives, like the "sky fence" in the Channel Islands that jams pilot signals to stop drones from bringing contraband into the prison. Remotely piloted aircraft can also be a force for good, like in Africa where drones are being used to stop poaching. In the US, you may not have to register your personal drones with the FAA anymore, but you might not want to fly them where they're not allowed. New draft legislation from the Trump administration would authorize the government to track, take control of, and destroy drones that the government thinks pose a threat to specially designated areas. In addition, courts would be unable to hear lawsuits arising from such activity.