Automated Vehicles Bill: policy scoping notes

Introduction

These policy scoping notes set out how the government intends to exercise the delegated powers in the Automated Vehicles Bill. To support proper scrutiny, these notes cover all the main statutory guidance and regulation-making powers in the bill.

In some instances, the delegated powers have been grouped where relevant to minimise duplication, as such there are 20 separate scoping notes.

Each scoping note:

• identifies the provisions in the bill that confer the power to make delegated legislation
• outlines the policy intent
• provides an indication of the possible content of the regulations

These policy scoping notes reflect potential policy approaches. They are subject to consultation and the final policy position may differ from that set out here. We intend for this to be a live document, which can be updated during bill passage if necessary, to provide further information and detail.

The Automated Vehicles Bill

The Automated Vehicles Bill implements the recommendations of the 4-year review of regulation for automated vehicles carried out jointly by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission (the Law Commissions). It is intended to set the legal framework for the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles in Great Britain.

The Law Commissions’ review of the law relating to automated vehicles involved 3 rounds of consultation between November 2018 and March 2021, involving over 350 meetings with individuals and organisations, and analysis of over 400 written responses. The Law Commissions published their report Automated Vehicles: joint report with 75 recommendations in January 2022.

The government’s response to the recommendations was published in Connected and Automated Mobility 2025: Realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles in the UK (CAM 2025) in August 2022. Based on the Law Commissions’ recommendations, CAM 2025 committed to set out a legal and safety framework to provide clarity of responsibility for self-driving vehicles and to put in place new safety requirements. The framework applies to vehicle systems that are capable of driving a vehicle, for some or all of a journey, with no human input. Such systems are considered ‘self-driving’, and legal responsibilities associated with their use change. This technology is distinct from technology that supports a driver (driver assistance technology), where the driver remains responsible at all times. The Law Commissions recommended that it should be a criminal offence to market a vehicle as self-driving if it does not meet the legal definition.

As recommended by the Law Commissions, CAM 2025 identifies new legal entities responsible for the safety of self-driving systems and creates a new legal status for a driver who has handed control of a vehicle to a self-driving system. It also sets out details of a new safety framework for self-driving vehicles on roads in Great Britain.

The safety framework includes a non-statutory safety ambition that aims to provide a focus for government and industry as self-driving vehicles are developed and deployed, and to provide a publicly accessible aim to support public acceptance. A set of National Safety Principles, referred to as a Statement of Safety Principles in the bill, will set out further detail of the safety expectations for self-driving vehicles and will be used to inform safety assessment across the self-driving regulatory framework.

Vehicles with automated systems will be subject to detailed technical assessment and approval for the purposes of safety and cyber-security using the well-established Vehicle type approval process. For example, UN Regulation 157 is the first regulatory step taken by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in regulating driving automation technologies designed to be in primary control of the vehicle. Amendments to the approval process will be made where necessary to account for new automated technologies. A vehicle with automated technology may be put forward for authorisation, which is the process by which a system will be assessed as self-driving. If assessed as self-driving, authorisation will identify the organisation responsible for the system.

If the authorised vehicle is capable of operating without a responsible individual in the vehicle (and, therefore, does not need a driver), it will require a licensed operator to oversee the journey. If the service carries passengers, it will require an automated passenger services permit for automated passenger services or a licence under existing schemes.

An in-use regulatory scheme will hold those responsible for self-driving systems to account while the systems are in use, and new sanctions and penalties will apply if companies fail in their duty. No-blame investigations by inspectors of automated vehicle incidents will make recommendations to inform and shape the ongoing safe development and deployment of self-driving vehicles.

In addition to the Law Commission’s recommendations, the bill will make information about traffic regulation orders (TROs) available digitally and in a common format for use in self-driving vehicles and other systems that facilitate driving vehicles on a road. The data, which includes, for example, speed limits, road closures and restrictions, location and times of use of bus lanes and parking bays can then be used to create a digital map of the road network which will support the safe operation of self-driving vehicles. The proposal for digital traffic regulation orders was consulted on in 2022.