DRIVERLESS CARS
NEW LAWS TO SAFELY ROLL OUT SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES ACROSS BRITISH ROADS
New laws introduced on Wed- nesday 8 November 2023, will put safety at the heart of the roll-out of self-driving vehicle tech- nology and position the UK as a world-leader in this £42b industry. As announced in the King’s Speech, the government’s new Automated Vehicles (AV) Bill will deliver one of the most com- prehensive legal frameworks of its kind anywhere in the world for AVs. AVs could help reduce deaths with 88% of road collisions having human error as a contributory factor. But before AVs are allowed on our roads, they will now have to meet or exceed rigorous new safety requirements, set out in law. The technology will also help make travel more
convenient and
accessible, improving the lives of millions of people who can’t drive. They can be used to
better
connect rural communities, im- proving access to essential services and reducing isolation. They can make last-mile delivery and long- haul freight services more efficient and reduce congestion. This Bill will help cement the UK’s position as a global leader in this high tech, and high growth industry, which could create up to 38,000 jobs. 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 safety frame- work: setting the safety thres- hold for self-driving vehicles in law, while giving government the tools to enforce standards and hold companies to account • ensuring clear legal liability at all
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this terminology will be against the law and a criminal offence. The laws implement the recom- mendations of the review of self-driving vehicle regulation carried out by
the Law
times: making companies responsible for how their self- driving vehicles behave on the road and protecting users from being unfairly held accountable
• protecting consumers and the public: ensuring only vehicles that meet rigorous self-driving stand- ards can be marketed as such. All AVs 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 AV will have a corresponding Authorised Self- Driving Entity (often the manu- facturer) 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
Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission. This landmark review brings together over four years of legal work, three rounds of public consultation, and hundreds of responses from a wide range of organisations and individuals. The legislation will need to be approved by
the House of
Commons, House of Lords and eventually the monarch himself. The DfT will also be granted extra powers. The head of policy at the RAC, Simon Williams, has said that the country’s roads need improving to get the most out of the new tech. He said: “While the concept of truly driverless vehicles being common- place on our roads might still be a little sci-fi to the average driver, there is no doubting the need for this Bill. “The technology is moving at pace and it’s vital the UK isn’t left behind. However, if we’re ever to truly realise the benefits of autonomous technology we have to sort out the state of our roads once and for all. “It’s hard to fathom how driverless cars will be able to safely navigate our streets when so many road markings are faded, and then there’s the prospect of vehicles getting needlessly damaged by the UK’s pothole plague as they surely won’t be programmed to avoid them.”
DECEMBER 2023 PHTM
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