Changing driving laws to support automated vehicles

One of the project's recommendations was to develop purpose-built legislation to allow an ADS to drive an automated vehicle in place of a human.

This proposed legislation would:

• allow an ADS (rather than a human) to drive the vehicle
• ensure that there is always a legal entity responsible for driving
• set out any obligations on relevant entities, including the ADS entity, and users of automated vehicles
• provide flexible compliance and enforcement options.

In May 2018, ministers approved this recommendation to ensure there is always a legal entity in charge of driving when an automated driving system is engaged.

We are now working through the detail of this new national law as part of our work on in-service safety of automated vehicles.