Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Paragraph: 62
Require Government to set a clearer, more stretching safety threshold for self-driving vehicles.
Recommendation
While it is widely assumed that self-driving vehicles will prove safer than human drivers, this is not a given. Optimistic predictions are often based on widespread self- driving vehicle usage that is decades away, or assertions about human error that ignore other risks. Safety must remain the Government’s overriding priority as self-driving vehicles encounter real-world complexity. Given this, we question the Government’s proposed ambition that self-driving vehicles must be as safe as a competent and careful human driver. This is too weak and too vague. The Government should set a clearer, more stretching threshold.
Government Response Summary
The government noted the recommendation and outlined how the forthcoming Automated Vehicles Bill will provide a legal liability framework and detailed safety requirements, with specific requirements to be set in secondary legislation and developed through the CAVPASS programme, without committing to changing its proposed safety ambition.
Paragraph Reference:
62
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government has noted this recommendation. The Government recognises the need to make progress on issues of unresolved policy. Based on the Law Commissions’ review of the law, and extensive consultation on their proposals, the recently announced Automated Vehicles Bill provides further clarity in many of these areas. It sets out an approach to legal liability for self-driving vehicles, with liability whilst a vehicle drives itself being transferred to new legal entities once a vehicle has been authorised. The Bill also provides a framework for detailed safety requirements and conditions. These requirements, set as part of the authorisation process, can cover ongoing requirements around data sharing and vehicle roadworthiness. Specific requirements will be set out in secondary legislation and will be subject to public consultation. Safety requirements are being developed within the Government’s CAVPASS safety assurance programme. The Government is working closely with industry, in particular Government funded trials of self-driving vehicles, to identify issues that require further consideration and/or support. Other parts of the CAVPASS programme are considering data and roadworthiness issues. Access to data will be an important part of the safety assurance of self-driving vehicles, and the Automated Vehicles Bill makes provision for information to be shared for the purposes of safety regulation. In support of this, the Government is working across Departments and in conjunction with stakeholders, including manufacturers, telecom operators and enforcement agencies, to map out data availability and requirements. This work will also consider the right to personal privacy in line with GDPR guidelines enshrined in the Data Protection Act 2018. The Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 extended compulsory motor insurance to self-driving vehicles. The insurance industry have been supportive of self-driving vehicles and the forthcoming Automated Vehicles Bill. The Government continues to work with the insurance industry, including the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI), to consider and address issues relating to the insurance of self- driving vehicles. Although the Government is able to address many of the issues relating to self-driving vehicles at a national level, it also takes a leading role in international discussions under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety (WP1) and World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP29) to ensure consistent approaches to regulation of self-driving vehicles. This international work supports the industry’s desire for international harmonisation of vehicle standards and regulation of self-driving vehicles, which in turn supports UK business opportunities overseas.