{"id":"e90f4354-8ace-4e7e-a629-2498613b94b1","slug":"matthew-wansley","name":"Matthew Wansley","bioBrief":"Matthew Wansley is a Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, where he studies the intersection of law, technology, and corporate governance. His scholarship focuses on how regulators should confront emerging technologies whose risks are large, novel, and poorly understood: automated driving in particular, but also fracking, e-cigarettes, and the venture-backed startups that commercialize these technologies. He teaches Contracts, Corporations, Torts, Venture Capital, and AI and the Law (https://cardozo.yu.edu/directory/matthew-wansley).\n\nBefore joining Cardozo, Wansley was General Counsel of nuTonomy, the MIT self-driving startup that ran the first public robotaxi pilot in Singapore and was later acquired by Aptiv (now Motional). That operating experience anchors his AV-safety writing. He also served as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and clerked for judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School (2010) and a B.A. from Yale University (https://cardozo.yu.edu/directory/matthew-wansley).\n\nHis most cited work sits at two poles. On the technology-regulation side, \"Regulation of Emerging Risks\" (Vanderbilt L. Rev., 2016) built an experimentalist framework applied to fracking, e-cigarettes, and autonomous vehicles; \"The End of Accidents\" (UC Davis L. Rev., 2021) proposed strict, no-fault liability for AV operators in every crash involving contact; \"Regulating Driving Automation Safety\" (Emory L.J., 2024) reworked NHTSA's authority into a workable AV-safety regime; and \"Regulating Robotaxis\" (S. Cal. L. Rev., 2026), co-authored with Bryant Walker Smith, offers a blueprint for licensing driverless fleets. On the corporate-law side, \"Taming Unicorns\" (Indiana L.J., 2022), \"Risk-Seeking Governance\" (Vanderbilt L. Rev., 2023), \"Venture Predation\" (J. Corp. L., 2023), \"Coopting Disruption\" (BU L. Rev., 2025), and \"No Exit\" (NYU L. Rev., 2025) trace how venture capital, late-stage private companies, and incumbents warp competition and safety incentives. \"No Exit\" was voted one of the Top 10 Corporate and Securities Articles of 2025 (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0MhExuEAAAAJ).\n\nWansley is one of the most quoted academic voices on AV regulation in the general-interest press. He was a lead outside expert cited by The New York Times on California's 2023 suspension of Cruise's driverless permits, telling the Times that \"companies should be judged by their on-road safety performance\" and that Cruise \"could have survived this if they had been honest\" (https://slate.com/business/2023/10/cruise-suspended-california-robotaxis-self-driving-cars-san-francisco.html). He has been quoted by The Washington Post on NHTSA's expanding investigation of Tesla's Full Self-Driving software, arguing that Tesla's camera-only sensor posture is \"a bit of an outlier\" that warrants federal scrutiny (https://cardozo.yu.edu/news/professor-matthew-wansley-quoted-washington-post-about-tesla-self-driving-car-federal). He is a member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (https://www.ecgi.global/network/our-members/matthew-wansley-0).","priorExits":null,"nationality":"American","verificationPosture":"verified","aliases":["Matt Wansley","Matthew T. Wansley"],"sources":[{"url":"https://cardozo.yu.edu/directory/matthew-wansley","title":"Matthew Wansley — Faculty profile","sourceName":"Cardozo School of Law"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2836614","title":"SSRN author page","sourceName":"SSRN"},{"url":"https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0MhExuEAAAAJ&hl=en","title":"Matthew Wansley - Google Scholar","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://www.ecgi.global/network/our-members/matthew-wansley-0","title":"Professor Matthew Wansley - ECGI member profile","sourceName":"European Corporate Governance Institute"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3816158","title":"The End of Accidents (SSRN)","sourceName":"SSRN"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4190688","title":"Regulating Driving Automation Safety (SSRN)","sourceName":"SSRN"},{"url":"https://ssrn.com/abstract=5595951","title":"Regulating Robotaxis (SSRN)","sourceName":"SSRN"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2646316","title":"Regulation of Emerging Risks (SSRN)","sourceName":"SSRN"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4074038","title":"Moonshots (SSRN)","sourceName":"SSRN"},{"url":"https://slate.com/business/2023/10/cruise-suspended-california-robotaxis-self-driving-cars-san-francisco.html","title":"Cruise Robotaxis Were All Over San Francisco. California Just Banned Them.","sourceName":"Slate / New York Times syndication"},{"url":"https://cardozo.yu.edu/news/professor-matthew-wansley-quoted-washington-post-about-tesla-self-driving-car-federal","title":"Professor Wansley Quoted in Washington Post on Tesla FSD Federal Investigation","sourceName":"Cardozo Law News"},{"url":"https://cyber.jotwell.com/hailing-a-fleeting-moment-on-regulating-autonomous-taxi-fleets/","title":"Hailing a Fleeting Moment: On Regulating Autonomous Taxi Fleets","sourceName":"Jotwell (Technology Law)"},{"url":"https://awards.concurrences.com/en/auteurs/matthew-wansley","title":"Matthew Wansley - Antitrust Writing Awards","sourceName":"Concurrences"},{"url":"https://vanderbiltlawreview.org/lawreview/2016/03/regulation-of-emerging-risks/","title":"Regulation of Emerging Risks (2016) — Vanderbilt Law Review 69 · cited by 76","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4247122","title":"Risk-Seeking Governance (2023) — Vanderbilt Law Review 76 · cited by 55","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3823354","title":"Taming Unicorns (2022) — Indiana Law Journal 97 · cited by 40","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4681556","title":"Coopting Disruption (2025) — Boston University Law Review 105 · cited by 37","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2517834","title":"Virtuous Capture (2015) — Administrative Law Review 67 · cited by 35","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4472680","title":"Regulating Driving Automation Safety (2024) — Emory Law Journal 73 · cited by 33","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3808330","title":"The End of Accidents (2021) — UC Davis Law Review 55 · cited by 32","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3299707","title":"Beach Money Exits (2019) — Journal of Corporation Law 45 · cited by 31","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4437360","title":"Venture Predation (2023) — Journal of Corporation Law 48 · cited by 19","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2517843","title":"Cost-Benefit Analysis as a Commitment Device (2015) — Temple Law Review 87 · cited by 9","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4914151","title":"Regulating Robotaxis (2026) — Southern California Law Review 99 · cited by 6","sourceName":"Google Scholar"},{"url":"https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4820156","title":"No Exit (2025) — NYU Law Review 100 · cited by 5","sourceName":"Google Scholar"}],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","createdAt":"2026-08-25T23:24:38.899Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-26T01:02:22.307Z","educations":[{"id":"00f3c3c3-081b-467e-bb02-c598fe387d58","personId":"e90f4354-8ace-4e7e-a629-2498613b94b1","institution":"Harvard Law School","degree":"J.D.","startYear":null,"endYear":2010,"createdAt":"2026-08-25T23:38:08.232Z"},{"id":"4fff4a41-7c3e-4bba-b9e8-0886e8d3f264","personId":"e90f4354-8ace-4e7e-a629-2498613b94b1","institution":"Yale University","degree":"B.A.","startYear":null,"endYear":null,"createdAt":"2026-08-25T23:38:08.232Z"}],"companyRoles":[{"id":"8d608724-a7ef-4fa4-8583-0a18541d6e65","personId":"e90f4354-8ace-4e7e-a629-2498613b94b1","companyId":"037b1bac-9d14-41a0-a681-7c761204d78a","role":"researcher","roleTitle":"Associate Professor of Law","startDate":null,"endDate":null,"currentRole":true,"roleBasis":"verified_secondary","createdAt":"2026-08-25T23:24:39.673Z","company":{"slug":"cardozo-school-of-law","name":"Benjamin N. 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