Driverless cars on British roads are one step closer after King's Speech

There’s been much said about the increase of car technology and the transition to electric vehicles. However, the historic speech at the State Opening touched on a future of autonomous vehicles and the government has gone into a lot more detail about what it expects in the future from cars in the drafted 'Automated Vehicles Bill'.

The government expects to enable the ‘safe deployment of self-driving vehicles’, which means it’ll be legislating for physical safety – like it did with the hierarchy of road users introduction back in July 2022 – and vehicular safety.

First up, there’ll be a threshold to ensure those vehicles being put into self-driving mode understand the rules of the road without human input. It wants companies to face sanctions and penalties if the self-driving features of vehicles put on the road don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Furthermore, it’s got some new processes so all involved can learn from, investigate and provide feedback for any anomalous incidents that do occur, which you’d think would be par for the course. There’ll be requirements for local authorities to digitalise their traffic regulations into a centralised database, too.

In an attempt to "position [the UK] as a global leader in this high tech and high growth industry", there’s going to be a need for a tonne of new agencies responsible for, er, taking responsibility. The idea is that drivers will be protected, i.e. given immunity, if the vehicle they’re in has an accident in self-driving mode.

It won’t get a driver out of all the usual responsibilities such as having insurance and loading a vehicle safely. Seems reasonable.

While the government is expecting the AVB to "deliver one of the world’s more comprehensive legal frameworks for self-driving vehicles", notably the bill doesn’t mention putting an end to jaywalking, which may arguably be one of the biggest challenges for self-driving cars here in the UK.

We’re promised there’ll be a clampdown on misleading marketing to protect the consumer. Anything not self-driving isn’t allowed to be marketed as such… which makes us wonder where Tesla’s FSD feature fits in.

The government points to data from the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) which reckons that for every 10,000 human driver errors, a self-driving vehicle will make just one. And since 88 per cent of all collisions recorded in 2021 cited human error ‘as a contributory factor’, there’s a fair bit of moral reasoning for giving the control over to the robots.

And while the government estimates around 87,000 jobs by 2035, it doesn’t state how many will be lost. Job protection isn’t the only thing in question, either. In another Bill, there are stricter regulations coming in regarding personal data protection, which could see a reduction in the amount of data car makers can collect on customers.

The government has thrown a whopping amount of money to realise the potential of autonomous mobility, so it needs it to succeed to justify the £200 million spend in 2015-16 and further £66 million in 2022. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) recently calculated it’s going to be worth around £66 billion by 2040, so the Treasury – at the very least – has nothing to worry about, eh?

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “The automotive industry welcomes the introduction of the Automated Vehicles Bill as it will help position the UK as a leader in the roll out of self-driving vehicles on our roads. Manufacturers and developers are investing billions in this cutting-edge tech and the Bill will help us move from trial to deployment, essential if we are to the deliver the jobs, growth, road safety and increased business efficiency that connected and automated mobility offers.”

General insurance policy director for the Association of British Insurers, Mervyn Skeet, said: “We’ve long been calling for a regulatory framework that ensures [self-driving vehicles’] safe roll-out and firmly establishes the UK as a world leader for this technology. It’s critical that the regulations enable relevant data-sharing between the vehicle manufacturers and insurers in the interests of motorists and both industries.

“We also want to see clear definitions and distinctions between automated driving technology and assisted driving technology to support the public communications that will be required. It will be vital that people understand the capabilities of the vehicles they’re driving and are able to use them safely. We look forward to working further with the government as the legislation progresses.”

Meanwhile, Professor Paul Newman, co-founder of Oxa – the software house creating what it calls 'Universal Autonomy' for vehicles used by the likes of Ocado and BP – said: "Self driving vehicles are an outstanding example of AI’s ability to deliver strong societal, net-zero, economic and industrial benefits. They will help our cities to evolve with new modes of transport, forms of vehicle ownership and emissions expectations. But what can never change is our intolerance of harm and injury caused by inevitable, regrettable and avoidable road accidents. The new UK Automated Vehicles Bill accelerates the former - the positive change AI can deliver - and preserves the latter - our intolerance of risk.

“Building a regulatory framework that simultaneously encourages innovation alongside appropriate safety oversight and transparency will allow the public to build trust in these complex AI driven self-driving systems, and that is no small feat. Delivery of the AV Bill has taken a vast amount of smart thinking from agencies across the UK, including DfT, CCAV (Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles), the VCA, BSI, the Law Commission and Ministers and business leaders, founders and technologists like myself.

“The Bill will lead to new laws and a comprehensive regulatory framework creating a new class of driver (the first in 100 years) delivering clear partitioning of responsibilities and accountabilities for all the actors that must come together to enable self-driving vehicles at scale. And to do that when the change is driven by a new technology AI that is advancing at pace requires leadership and coherence but if the Bill does its job, which I think it will, the UK will be ahead of the game with legal frameworks that aid development and, importantly, are not a retrofit solution."