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Select committee: Transport Committee

Seventh Report - Self-driving vehicles

HC 519 Published 15 September 2023

Transport Committee Self-driving vehicles Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance6 recommendations and 5 conclusions · Government response published 24 November 2023 (deadline 15 November 2023)

The government's response

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government accepts the Committee's recommendations on a gradual introduction of self-driving vehicles and on bringing forward legislation, partially accepts two others, notes one, and does not accept the Committee's view on the safety ambition.

  • On legislation, the government "accepts this recommendation" and states it is bringing the Automated Vehicles Bill to the fourth Parliamentary session, as announced in the King's Speech on 7 November 2023.
  • It does not accept the Committee's view that the safety threshold should be more stretching. It argues that setting too high a level of ambition "could have the effect of stifling the introduction of the technology", and considers a competent and careful driver standard "an appropriate ambition at this time".
  • On driver skills and a strategy for human driving, it "partially accepts". It says work is underway as part of its CAVPASS programme to consider education, training and licensing needs, and changes have already been made to The Highway Code.
  • On unresolved policy issues such as data, roadworthiness and liability, it "has noted this recommendation". It points to the Automated Vehicles Bill, with specific requirements to be set out in secondary legislation "subject to public consultation".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Sources

Recommendations and conclusions 11

  1. 1
    Self-driving vehicles offer potential benefits, but progress has been slower than predicted, breeding cynicism. Conclusion · paragraph 33 · addressed to Department for Transport Conclusion (the committee's words)
    There is a broad range of possible uses for self-driving vehicles, and we believe they have the potential to improve transport connectivity with significant safety, productivity, and mobility benefits. However, over the last decade, progress in this technology has failed to meet many of its promoters’ predictions, and this has bred understandable cynicism.
  2. 2
    Expectations for self-driving vehicles are becoming more realistic, with circumscribed forms closer to reality. Conclusion · paragraph 34 · addressed to Department for Transport Conclusion (the committee's words)
    Hopefully expectations of self-driving vehicle technology have become more realistic. Self-driving vehicles that can go anywhere at any time remain purely hypothetical, but in more circumscribed forms they can become reality. Nobody is likely to be taking a self-driving vehicle the whole way from Land’s End to John o’ Groats anytime soon, if ever, but self-driving bus services may become commonplace sooner rather than later.
  3. 3
    Require Government to adopt a cautious, gradual approach to self-driving vehicle introduction. Recommendation · paragraph 35 · addressed to Department for Transport Recommendation (the committee's words)
    In principle we welcome the introduction of self-driving vehicles, but the Government must take a cautious, gradual approach with the technology introduced only in well- defined and appropriate contexts. As such, we broadly welcome the strategy the Government has set out. However, without careful handling, self-driving vehicles could worsen congestion and exacerbate existing inequalities in transport access. The Government must ensure the introduction of self-driving vehicles is responsive to the wider population and meets the UK’s transport goals.
  4. 4
    Require Government to set a clearer, more stretching safety threshold for self-driving vehicles. Recommendation · paragraph 62 · addressed to Department for Transport Recommendation (the committee's words)
    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.
  5. 5
    Require Government to develop a strategy for the future of human driving skills. Recommendation · paragraph 63 · addressed to Department for Transport Recommendation (the committee's words)
    Greater automation will reduce time spent driving. Over time drivers may become less practised and therefore less skilled. Conversely, the demands on drivers will grow as they will be called upon to retake control of vehicles in challenging circumstances with little notice. The Government should set out a strategy for the future of human driving in a world of self-driving vehicles. This should include possible changes to driving tests and a plan to ensure that all drivers fully understand self-driving vehicles and both acquire and maintain the necessary skills for taking control of a vehicle in all circumstances.
  6. 6
    Self-driving vehicles must not impose new burdens on other road users or pedestrians. Conclusion · paragraph 64 · addressed to Department for Transport Conclusion (the committee's words)
    The introduction of self-driving vehicles to the UK’s roads will affect all road users. We believe that this should not impose new responsibilities on other road users and pedestrians, limit their access to, or use of, public infrastructure or, crucially, make them less safe.
  7. 7
    Connected vehicles pose new complex challenges for safety, data access, and legal liability. Conclusion · paragraph 79 · addressed to Department for Transport Conclusion (the committee's words)
    Connected vehicles pose new dangers, which the law must evolve to meet. A safety- led culture will require wide access to data, and this must be a higher priority than commercial confidentiality. Ensuring self-driving vehicles are roadworthy will be more complicated than for conventional vehicles, not least because there is more that can go wrong. Legal liability also becomes more complex as it is shared between owner and operator. The Government explained broadly how its new regulatory regime will work but accepted that more thinking was needed about how this will work in practice.
  8. 8
    Lead efforts to resolve policy issues for safe deployment of self-driving vehicles by 2025. Recommendation · paragraph 80 · addressed to Department for Transport Recommendation (the committee's words)
    The Government has put good structures in place, but it is not enough just to participate in or facilitate conversations about unresolved policy issues, including access to data, verifying roadworthiness, legal liability and insurance implications. If self-driving vehicles are to be deployed on our roads by 2025, safely and successfully, the Government must take the lead to resolve these issues.
  9. 9
    Integrate self-driving vehicle needs into future infrastructure strategy, addressing current siloed preparations. Recommendation · paragraph 89 · addressed to Department for Transport Recommendation (the committee's words)
    Self-driving vehicles will need well-maintained roads and signage, nationwide connectivity, and up-to-date digital information about the road network. While some steps have been taken towards this by the Government and public bodies, these preparations are too siloed and divorced from broader planning. If the Government is serious about self-driving vehicles, it should ensure meeting their needs is an integral part of future infrastructure strategy.
  10. 10
    Archaic self-driving vehicle laws require urgent reform, making government's legislative delay disappointing. Conclusion · paragraph 102 · addressed to Department for Transport Conclusion (the committee's words)
    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.
  11. 11
    Urgently bring forward comprehensive legislation for a robust self-driving vehicle regulatory framework. Recommendation · paragraph 103 · addressed to Department for Transport Recommendation (the committee's words)
    The self-driving vehicle sector is a British success story. We were impressed, unfailingly so, by the energy, creativity, and expertise of all those we met, whether from industry, academia, Government or somewhere in between. We have a competitive advantage, and we must maintain it. To do this the Government must bring forward and pass comprehensive legislation in the next parliamentary session to put in place the robust regulatory framework it promised. Failing to do so will do significant and lasting damage both to the UK’s self-driving vehicle industry and to this country’s reputation as a trailblazer. We recommend that legislation be brought forward as a matter of urgency, with an expectation that any legislation will have to be regularly reviewed and updated subsequently as technology evolves.