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Government to review driverless vehicle rules to ensure UK becomes leader in driverless tech

Industry now allowed to test driverless cars on UK roads

The government is to rewrite legislation in a bid to ensure the UK becomes a world leader in driverless technology. Changes will be made to the Highway Code and MOT test guidelines with a new code of practice due within the next few months - as we reported earlier today trial of driverless vehicles will get underway in London soon.

Transport Minister, Claire Perry, explained why the government was so keen to embrace driverless technology.

“Driverless cars are the future. I want Britain to be at the forefront of this exciting new development, to embrace a technology that could transform our roads and open up a brand new route for global investment.”

One of the major issues will be to establish who would be responsible in the event of a collision and the BBC reports that a higher standard of driving may be demanded of automated vehicles.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, emphasised how important it was to get the regulation right.

"Alongside the hi-tech innovation you need policy decisions on long-term, low-tech matters such as who takes responsibility if things go wrong. As and when these vehicles become commonplace, there is likely to be a shift from personal to product liability and that is a whole new ball game for insurers and manufacturers."

A Department for Transport review carried out over the past six months looked at the best and safest ways to trial automated vehicles where an individual is able to take control of the car if necessary and also looked at the implications for testing fully automated vehicles.

Both Perry and Business Secretary, Vince Cable, will attend the first official trials of the fully autonomous Meridian shuttle in Greenwich. There they will also unveil a prototype of a driverless pod which is to be tested in public areas in Milton Keynes once the new code of practice has been established.

Cable said that driverless cars were likely to represent a sizeable industry in coming years.

“It’s important for jobs, growth and society that we keep at the forefront of innovation, that’s why I launched a competition to research and develop driverless cars. The projects we are now funding in Greenwich, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Coventry will help to ensure we are world-leaders in this field and able to benefit from what is expected to be a £900 billion industry by 2025.”

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7 comments

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crazy-legs | 9 years ago
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Firstly, the point where driverless cars are widespread is decades off. And secondly, I think there's some sort of assumption that they'll happily coexist with 'normal' cars, cyclists, pedestrians etc.

That's bollocks. Imagine the games you could have with a driverless car. Cut it up, force your way out in front etc knowing that it'll slam the brakes on. The only way they'll truly work to their full potential is if they have dedicated infrastructure where they can do 100mph while keeping a nice steady 6ft from each other. And that means no bikes on that part of the road...

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Flying Scot | 9 years ago
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Look forward to gridlock bedlam as the sensors fail and these stop for safety.

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bdsl | 9 years ago
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There was some discussion about this on Law in Action on Radio 4 recently. Apparently there is some case law about horses on roads that may be relevant to driverless vehicles.

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Initialised | 9 years ago
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Yes but are they Three-Laws-Safe?

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glynr36 replied to Initialised | 9 years ago
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Initialised wrote:

Yes but are they Three-Laws-Safe?

Of course they will be.

They'll be much safer than a human controlled vehicle.
They will react faster, won't be distracted, won't get tired, won't get road rage, won't answer the phone, won't light up a cigarette etc.

The levels of redundancy in them will be beyond safe, anything that doesn't look right will be massively erred on the side of caution.

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Super Domestique | 9 years ago
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The new excuse:

Sorry mate my car didn't see you!

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Cyclist | 9 years ago
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Can't be any worse than mobile phone users / 90 year olds / and in general, an incompetent homo sapien being behind the wheel  39

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