KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
That will not mean that every person inside an automated vehicle is free from all responsibility. The immunity will apply only to offences arising from the manner of driving while the authorised feature is engaged and within the limits of its authorisation. It will not excuse a user-in-charge or even passenger from offences arising from their own conduct, and other legislation may continue to treat the user-in- charge as the driver except where the section 47 immunity applies.
Issues?
l The new Section 54 states a user-in-charge would commit an offence where, at the time the authorised feature was engaged, it would have been obvious to a competent and careful user that the vehicle’s state made its use dangerous. That offence would carry a 12 month ban and a possible prison sentence.
l Section 54 would also introduce aggravated offences where the vehicle’s dangerous state causes death or serious injury. Again, that would carry a mandatory 12 month ban and a higher prison sentence.
l It would also be an offence to use, cause or permit the use of a vehicle without a person able to exercise control of it, unless it was operating under an authorised no-user-in-charge function with the required licensed oversight.
Separately, there would be a ‘no-user-in-charge’ feature. Once the relevant provisions are in force and the vehicle, feature and operator have received the required approvals, a journey may take place without anyone inside being responsible for driving. A passenger in such a vehicle will not become a user-in- charge merely by being present.
This no-user-in-charge model is the route to genuinely driverless operation. Once the relevant parts of the Act are fully implemented, an authorised vehicle will be able to complete a journey without anyone inside being expected to monitor the road or take over the driving.
The journey will instead be overseen under a licensed operator scheme, potentially involving remote supervision. The dividing line will therefore be between the vehicle’s driving decisions, the conduct of the human user and the functionality engaged.
PHTM SEPTEMBER 2026
For the supervised robotaxi trials now being introduced, the position remains straightforward: the trained, licensed safety driver is present and remains legally responsible under the existing law. Under the future statutory regime, an individual may become a user-in-charge only where an authorised user-in- charge feature is engaged.
That person may then be protected from liability for the vehicle’s driving decisions, but will retain responsibility for their own conduct and for responding appropriately when a valid transition demand requires control to be resumed.
For a genuinely driverless journey using an authorised no-user-in-charge feature, no passenger will be responsible merely because they are inside the vehicle. Responsibility will instead be allocated through the separate statutory and regulatory duties imposed on the authorised self-driving entity and the licensed no- user-in-charge operator.
There will inevitably be difficult cases at the boundary between those two positions. Questions will arise about whether the feature was properly engaged, whether it was being used within the conditions of its authorisation, whether a transition demand was made and whether the human user had resumed control. Those facts will be critical when deciding who, if anyone, should be prosecuted. That could well become one of the defining road traffic issues of the next decade.
If you have any questions about traffic law, please contact us for free legal advice on 01626 359800 or by email at
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk
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