Source · Select Committees · Transport Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Accepted
Paragraph: 102
Archaic self-driving vehicle laws require urgent reform, making government's legislative delay disappointing.
Conclusion
The current laws for self-driving vehicles are archaic and limiting, especially concerning testing and legal liability. We commend the work of the Law Commissions and the Government in devising a new legal framework. That framework has broad support, albeit with more detail needed in some areas. This makes it deeply disappointing that the Government will not commit to legislating in this Parliament to put this framework in place.
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the recommendation, stating it is delighted to bring the Automated Vehicles Bill to the fourth Parliamentary session, as announced in the King's Speech on 7 November 2023, to establish a legal framework for self-driving vehicles.
Paragraph Reference:
102
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government accepts this recommendation. The Government agrees that the sector is a success and that our competitive advantage must be maintained. The Government thanks the Committee for recognising the Government’s part in this progress to date, and is delighted to be able to bring the Automated Vehicles Bill to the fourth Parliamentary session, as announced in the King’s Speech on 7 November 2023. The Automated Vehicles Bill implements the recommendations of the four-year review of regulation for self-driving vehicles carried out by the Law Commissions. It is intended to set the legal framework for the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles in Great Britain. The Bill includes three key provisions: • To ensure there is clear legal liability, giving drivers immunity from prosecution when a self-driving system is engaged as well as setting out responsibility for companies that develop and operate self-driving vehicles on our roads. • To create a comprehensive safety framework for self-driving vehicles including: • thresholds for authorisation of self-driving vehicles, • continuing safety requirements for self-driving vehicles, backed by including new sanctions and penalties if companies fail in their duty. • enabling new incident investigation processes designed to ensure safety lessons are fed back into the safety framework. • making road information available digitally in order to support the safe operation of self-driving vehicles. • To protect consumers by prohibiting misleading marketing. Only vehicles that meet the safety threshold can be marketed as self-driving. The Bill sets out a flexible framework that can be adapted to address new use cases, new business models and new technology development.