Autonomous Vehicle

Direct Involvement in the Autonomous Vehicle Revolution 

Our lawyers have significant cross-disciplinary experience advising clients in the automotive, technology and manufacturing sectors on a broad range of areas including M&A, regulatory counseling, intellectual property counseling, corporate transactions, and privacy and cyber security.

Intellectual Property Counseling

Drawing on our broad capabilities and industry leadership, we provide long-term strategic counsel and day-to-day advice on the development, identification, procurement, clearance, protection, use, and licensing of autonomous vehicle technologies. 

Data Use, Ownership, Privacy and Security

We actively collaborate with our clients to stay atop the dynamic data landscape, where mountains of data are collected, processed, stored, transferred, and manipulated. Our autonomous-vehicle team includes four attorneys that are Certified Information Privacy Professionals (CIPP/US), a gold-standard certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Honigman is also a corporate member of the IAPP. 

Commercial and Technology Transactions

The race to develop and implement autonomous vehicle technologies is rapidly changing standard business arrangements, and often brings together parties with unique cultures and objectives. Our attorneys are experienced in merging automotive industry culture and standard terms of engagement with that of technology companies. With decades of experience representing large and small automotive clients, Honigman is in a unique position with experience representing technology businesses, and the businesses and groups that actively invest in autonomous vehicle innovation. 

Our transactional lawyers are highly skilled in negotiating deals. We recognize the interests of all parties and foster cooperation without losing focus on our clients’ specific goals. Among our engagements, we have advised on the following:

• Creation of a research, development and testing facility of autonomous vehicles and related public infrastructure
• Agreements between OEMs, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers involving the development and supply of products for autonomous features 
• Conducting due diligence relating to autonomous vehicle technologies, including advising investors and investees on expectations and negotiating special arrangements
• Prosecution of patents for autonomous vehicle technologies, as well as conducting freedom-to-operate and other analyses
• Defense of patent-infringement litigation relating to autonomous-vehicle technologies

Integrated, Cross-Disciplinary Counsel  

Although technology is rapidly changing the automotive industry, companies in the autonomous vehicle sector face many of the same day-to-day challenges as their traditional counterparts. We provide end-to-end counsel on a range of issues, including regulatory and legislative developments, warranties, production and delivery, recalls, insurance matters, quality-assurance processes, pricing and product liability, commercial and IP/patent litigation, immigration, and labor and employment. 

We have a deep understanding of the automotive supply chain and advise clients at every step, including mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracting, supply chain management, business counseling, financing and venture capital. 

Professionals at the Forefront

Honigman’s Corporate/M&A, Intellectual Property and Litigation practice groups — as well as dozens of individual lawyers — have received top-tier rankings from Chambers USA, U.S. News-Best Lawyers and BTI Consulting Group, among numerous other organizations and publications. 

Furthermore, several of Honigman’s Autonomous Vehicle industry group attorneys have a combination of graduate and undergraduate degrees and work experience in the sciences or engineering. 

A Commitment to Quality and Efficiency

We combine the skills of our lawyers with Honigman’s extensive resources and client-service ethic to deliver exceptional legal services on competitive terms compared to our major-market peers. Our legal project management techniques, lean staffing models, the direct involvement of senior partners and Midwest location offers our clients significant advantages.