Automated Vehicles Bill [HL]

Written evidence submitted by the Self-Driving Vehicles APPG for the House of Commons Public Bill Committee (AVB03)

Automated Vehicles Bill

 About the Self-Driving Vehicles APPG

The APPG provides a forum for parliamentarians, industry, and academics to learn about and promote the economic, environmental, and safety benefits of AVs for a variety of use cases across all parts of the UK. [1] In collaboration with sponsors AXA UK, Burges Salmon, WSP, and Wayve, it acts as the voice of the self-driving sector in Parliament. Last year, the APPG ran a consultation on the economic, environmental, and safety benefits of self-driving vehicles with industry experts and policymakers, publishing a report on the findings. [2]

Executive Summary

1. We support the Automated Vehicles Bill as brought from the House of Lords and support it reaching Royal Assent with no further amendments.

2. The Bill will create a comprehensive framework for the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles. It will introduce crucial protections for consumers, giving legal clarity that is needed by the self-driving industry and ensuring that passengers or vehicle users are not liable when the vehicle is driving itself.

3. AVs offer huge benefits to UK society, making our journeys more efficient, increasing mobility and accessibility and bringing £42 billion of economic growth and high-productivity jobs. [3]

4. They will also make roads safer, particularly for vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians, by removing the human error that is the cause of up to 88% of road traffic accidents. [4]

5. The swift passage of this Bill is critical to support this industry in the UK. Without this legislation this year, the UK will lose out on early deployments which will otherwise go to markets which have long since legislated including the EU, Germany France and 20+ US states.

6. AVs offer an opportunity for the UK to become a world leader in a high-growth and high-tech industry. As the Transport Committee noted, this sector is a British success story and demonstrates the UK’s position at the forefront of innovation.

The safety standard

7. The ‘careful and competent’ safety standard that underpins the Bill is the right one as it will considerably improve safety on the UK’s roads.

7.1. An AV driving to a careful and competent standard 100% of the time is a very high standard of safety - considerably better driver than the average UK driver on the road today - meaning this standard will raise safety on UK roads considerably from where it is today.

7.2. This is not just UK-specific. ‘Careful and competent’ is the internationally recognised gold standard of safe driving, and diverging from this would make the UK an outlier.

8. AVs will help to make our roads safer because they remove the risk posed by human drivers. DfT estimates that 88% of accidents are caused by poor or dangerous driving. [5] The four leading causes of accidents in the UK are driver error, reckless behaviour, disobeying traffic laws, and driver impairment/distraction. [6]

Infrastructure

9. The rollout of AVs will not require changes in road infrastructure. The AV industry is not calling for changes to transport or road infrastructure to accommodate AVs. AVs are being developed to integrate into the highly complex layout and behaviour patterns that we see on the UK’s roads every day. AVs will not require data from roads or altered pedestrian behaviour.

10. The Bill reflects this and has been drafted to enable the seamless integration of AVs into the road environment of today.

Insurance liability

11. We support the liability framework set out in Part 2 of the Bill. The Automated Vehicles Bill builds on the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 and creates a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for both User-in-Charge and No-User-in-Charge self-driving technologies.

12. The fundamental provisions of motor insurance remain the same: Vehicles will still need to be covered by an insurance policy to be on the road, whether or not there is a driver. However, the responsibility for seeking insurance coverage will change.

13. With a User-in-Charge vehicle, responsibility for insurance will sit with the driver and depending on who is in control at the time of an incident, either the driver or manufacturer is liable. When a User-in-Charge feature is engaged, the driver must be ready to respond to a transition demand and should therefore respond to all transition demands within the time required (this will be outlined as part of the authorisation process).

14. However, in the event of the driver failing to respond to the transition demand, the Bill outlines that the vehicle will be required to deal with the situation safely. Under the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018, at the end of the transition period, the User-in-Charge no longer has immunity from traffic offences. The insurer would assess fault, based on the facts of the incident.

15. In addition, it is likely insurers will be exposed to a greater risk – cyber and human injury. Currently, if you are injured in an accident where you are at fault, your insurance does not cover you for personal injuries. With a self-driving vehicle, if anyone is injured while travelling in self-driving mode, the insurance policy will likely provide compensation.  

16. The Bill also outlines that authorisation requirements for authorised self-driving entities may include the collection and sharing of information with insurers and vehicle manufacturers, meaning insurers will be able to assess fault quickly and effectively.

17. Data will need to be shared with insurers in a timely manner and we will continue to engage on this as part of secondary legislation.

Why are AVs needed?

18. Economic and employment opportunities for the UK. Government figures show that AVs will provide a £42bn boost to UK economic growth by 2035. As AVs scale, they will create over 38,000 new jobs - of which, over 80% are expected to be in professional, technical, and skilled occupations like fleet management and remote operations. [7]

19. Increasing road safety. The Department for Transport estimates that 88% of road traffic accidents are caused by human error. The four leading causes of road accidents in the UK are driver error, reckless behaviour, disobeying traffic laws, and driver impairment/distraction. The SMMT estimates that AVs will save 3,900 lives and prevent 60,000 serious accidents between now and 2040. [8] The Institute for Engineering and Technology estimates that for every 10,000 errors made by drivers, a self-driving vehicle will make just one. [9]

20. NHS savings. Research from AXA UK shows automated vehicles can help reduce road traffic accidents and deliver significant savings to the NHS and the wider economy. [10] In 2022, road traffic accidents cost the economy £43bn, of which £2.3bn was a direct cost to the NHS in medical treatment and ambulance services.

21. New transport services to support those with limited mobility. According to a study from Age UK, driving remains the most common form of transport for older people in the UK, with 68% of households where someone is aged 70+ having a car. [11] AVs can support older people in driving safely for longer, and offer viable alternative transport options for those who are unable to drive.

22. Reducing emissions. Transportation accounts for the largest share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions among sectors in the UK [12] and inefficiencies abound: traffic congestion, stopping and starting, as well as underutilisation of fleets. One life cycle assessment study found that AVs’ can result in an additional 10% reduction in GHG emissions by adopting eco-driving practices, reducing congestion, and providing on-demand mobility services that change travel patterns and vehicle ownership. [13]

Impact on cyclists and pedestrians

23. AVs will have a significant benefit to road safety for all road users. As the most vulnerable on our roads, pedestrians and cyclists will feel this impact the most.

24. Cyclists and pedestrians are regularly subjected to aggression from drivers, with analysis by Cycling Scotland finding that drivers were responsible for nearly three-quarters of collisions involving cyclists between 2015 and 2020. [14]

25. Even if accidents do not occur, human drivers can create a hostile environment by cutting them off, not looking before turning at a junction, or not overtaking a cyclist with the required gap of 1.5 metres. A 2019 study from Monash University found that 17% of drivers surveyed admitted using their car to deliberately block a cyclist, 11% had deliberately driven their car close to a cyclist, and 9% had used their car to cut off a cyclist. [15]

Why is this Bill needed?

Risk of falling behind competitors

26. At present, UK AV companies are only able to trial their self-driving technology. The lack of a legal framework to commercially deploy these vehicles in the UK means we are at risk of falling behind international competitors in France, Germany, and the US. Without the Automated Vehicles Bill, there is no path to commercialisation.

27. The EU has introduced a framework for the type approval of vehicles with self-driving features. Germany and France have also enacted national frameworks for the commercial deployment of Level 4 vehicles (with certain restrictions). The US Government has provided voluntary guidance empowering individual states to develop their own statutory frameworks since 2012, and 29 states have enacted legislation so far.

Legal certainty

28. The Bill provides the legal certainty for UK developers to build towards deploying their technology here commercially. Without this legal certainty, the UK may never see the safety, environmental, or efficiency gains promised by automated vehicles.

29. The Bill also ensures that AVs are deployed safely, reducing the risk of consumers being misled about self-driving capabilities and their own liability, and ensuring that new technology is not released to consumers without appropriate safeguards. By providing a clear legal framework, the legislation will help foster an environment that encourages significant new investment, R&D and innovation, job creation, and technological breakthroughs.

Blueprint for AI regulation

30. The legislation places the UK at the forefront of global progress in shaping the future of transportation.

31. Legislation in the AV sector will not only facilitate innovation, but also serve as a template for implementing sector-specific regulation to assure the safety of AI-based technologies in context before they are introduced to the market.

March 2024