# Professor Arun Sundararajan explains Uber’s launch of self-driving cars without permits in California

1 Faculty News December 16, 2016 ![Guardian logo ](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_030939.jpg?itok=g7FgVwid)>

Excerpt from [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/16/uber-self-driving-cars-california-illegal-unethical-tactics) -- "Experts note that Uber has an obvious financial interest in a system with minimal regulations. By ignoring California regulators, the corporation is attempting to preemptively create a framework in which self-driving cars are treated similarly to traditional vehicles, said [Arun Sundararajan](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/arun-sundararajan), a New York University business professor and expert on the sharing economy. 'The act of asking for permission is sort of a tacit admission that this needs to be regulated,' he said. 'They are playing a long game here … They’re trying to define what the regulatory space is going to look like.'"

[Read more](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/16/uber-self-driving-cars-california-illegal-unethical-tactics)