Britain's self-proclaimed “world-leading” regulation of self-driving cars has become official after the Autonomous Vehicles (AV) Act received royal assent. This is the final rubber stamp that any law must pass before becoming law.
The government has said fully autonomous cars could be on UK roads within two years.
“While this does not take away people's ability to choose to drive themselves, our landmark legislation means self-driving cars could be on UK roads as early as 2026. , will provide a substantial boost to both safety and our nation's economy,” the Secretary of Transportation said. Mark Harper said in his statement:
Today's news comes just days after UK-based Wayve raised more than $1 billion from big-name companies including SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft to continue developing its self-learning software system for self-driving cars. It was announced a week later.
Like other countries, the UK has already allowed self-driving cars on public roads for years, but there are strict rules in place for companies seeking permission to test new technology. However, as the autonomous vehicle industry evolves and prepares for prime time, the need for a new legal framework becomes clear.
Although the initial groundwork was laid several years ago, the UK formally proposed AV legislation in a joint 2022 report published by the Law Commission of England, Wales and Scotland. The report notes that the advent of self-driving cars is creating a need for self-driving cars overall. “New vocabularies, new legal entities, and new regulatory schemes.” said:
“The introduction of self-driving cars will have significant legal implications… it will require new regulatory schemes and new actors (with new responsibilities and responsibilities). We recommend a basic law to regulate autonomous vehicles in places: a new autonomous vehicle law.”
Self-driving cars: Joint report of the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Law Commission of Scotland
Liability if a self-driving car causes an accident
The UK is keen to be at the forefront of the self-driving car revolution, funding a range of AV projects and safety research programmes. The government has touted the potential safety benefits of self-driving cars in that they remove human error from the roads, but from the United States, where self-driving cars are gaining a firmer foothold. acknowledges that crashes still occur, as evidenced by the report. In fact, California has also emerged as a hotbed for her proposed AV regulations.
This is why liability is one of the core aspects of the UK's new regulations. Who is liable when an accident occurs? The UK will make this clear in 2022, with new legislation announcing a roadmap to hold businesses accountable for any accidents, stating: “While in control, the human driver is not responsible for any driving-related accidents.”
Each approved self-driving vehicle has a corresponding “approved self-driving entity,” which is often the manufacturer, but could actually be a software developer or an insurance company. This entity is then responsible for the vehicle when autonomous driving mode is enabled.
The government will establish a vehicle approval system backed by a “fully independent accident investigation function”, and companies approved to operate under the new regulations will be required to carry out “continuing measures to ensure vehicle safety”. are expected to fulfill their duties.