New laws to regulate self-driving technology

New laws have been introduced into Parliament to regulate self-driving technology.

The government’s new Automated Vehicles (AV) Bill will deliver a comprehensive legal frameworks for self-driving vehicles, with safety at its core.

The new safety framework will ensure clear liability for the user, set the safety threshold for legal self-driving and establish an in-use regulatory scheme to monitor the ongoing safety of these vehicles.

It comes amid wider government funding and support for trials of self-driving technologies in the UK, like the £66 million Commercialising Connected and Automated Mobility fund which is supporting 20 projects in nearly 50 organisations to develop prototype passenger and logistics self-driving services

The AV Bill’s comprehensive legal framework has safety and the protection of the user at its core. This will be done through creating a rigorous new safety framework, setting the safety threshold for self-driving vehicles in law, while giving government the tools it needs to enforce standards and hold companies to account.

It will also be done through ensuring clear legal liability at all times, making companies responsible for how their self-driving vehicles behave on the road and protecting users from being unfairly held accountable

It also aims to protect consumers and the public, ensuring only vehicles that meet rigorous self-driving standards can be marketed as such

All self-driving vehicles will be required to undergo robust safety testing before they are permitted to drive on UK roads, and the AV Bill will ensure clear legal liability when a vehicle is driving itself by creating new legal entities responsible for self-driving.  

Every authorised self-driving vehicle will have a corresponding Authorised Self-Driving Entity– often the manufacturer – which will be responsible for the behaviour of the vehicle when self-driving. Companies will have ongoing obligations to keep their vehicles safe and ensure that they continue to drive in accordance with British laws.  

The Bill will prohibit misleading market practices, including around using ambiguous terminology in advertising material around whether their vehicles classify as self driving. Regulations under the Bill will set out specific terminology and symbols which will be reserved for marketing authorised self-driving vehicles. Unauthorised and improper use of this terminology will be against the law and a criminal offence.

The laws implement the recommendations of the review of self-driving vehicle regulation carried out by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission. This landmark review brings together over 4 years of legal work, 3 rounds of public consultation, and hundreds of responses from a wide range of organisations and individuals.

^{Image from Zenuity and Volvo Cars.}