The latest update towards an autonomous future
New UK Laws outlined in November aim to put safety at the heart of a future roll-out of self-driving vehicle technology, while making travel more accessible to those who cannot drive. The King's Speech on proposed legislation was an important step towards ensuring a safe and efficient transition to an autonomous driving future. The AV Bill entails legal threshold to authorize self-driving vehicles, driving accountability, process for incident investigation, and local authorities required to provide digital mapping.
The proposed legislation aims to establish a clear legal framework for the development and deployment of self-driving cars, including a minimum threshold for safety and performance standards that must be met before these vehicles can be authorised for use on public roads. This will help to build public trust in the technology and ensure that the safety of all road users are protected.
In addition to safety standards, the Bill also addresses the issue of driving accountability. It requires that self-driving cars must be able to identify when they are no longer able to operate safely and must be able to alert the driver to take control of the vehicle. This will help prevent accidents caused by drivers who fail to take control of their vehicle when necessary.
Finally, the proposed legislation requires local authorities to provide digital mapping to ensure that self-driving cars have access to accurate and up-to-date information about road conditions and traffic patterns. This will help to ensure that self-driving cars can navigate safely and efficiently, reducing the risk of accidents and traffic congestion.
Further information on this will follow but this latest update gives a firm commitment to the UK government investing in research and development and creating an estimated 38,000 jobs in the UK.
The Automated Vehicles Bill will implement the recommendations of the 4-year review of regulation for self-driving vehicles carried out jointly by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission (the Law Commissions) and sets out the ongoing proposal for how these will be implemented.
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