① The UK has officially introduced the “Autonomous Vehicle Act”; ② The UK Secretary of Transport said that autonomous vehicles can be introduced on UK roads as early as 2026; ③ The core content of the new law is that if a vehicle has an accident after the autonomous driving mode is activated, then the manufacturer will be responsible for the accident.
Financial Services Association, May 21 (Editor Zhou Ziyi) The UK has officially introduced a bill to regulate autonomous vehicles — the “Autonomous Vehicle Act”. The British authorities called it a “world-leading” bill and said fully automated cars could hit the UK road within two years.
UK Transport Secretary Mark Harper (Mark Harper) said in a statement, “Our landmark legislation means that autonomous vehicles can be introduced on UK roads as early as 2026, which will truly promote the safety and economy of the UK.”
As the autonomous vehicle industry evolves and prime time arrives, it is even more important to develop a new legal framework.
The UK first formally proposed the Autonomous Driving Act in a joint report issued by the Law Commission of England, Wales and Scotland in 2022. The report states that the arrival of autonomous vehicles requires a new vocabulary, new legal participants, and a new regulatory plan.
The UK has been trying to position itself at the forefront of the autonomous vehicle revolution, trying to fund various autonomous vehicle projects and safety research projects.
Just a few weeks ago, the British autonomous driving company Wayve raised more than 1 billion US dollars from well-known companies such as SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft to continue developing self-learning software systems for autonomous vehicles.
Who is responsible for the accident?
Self-driving cars have potential safety advantages because they eliminate human error on the road to a certain extent, but car accidents still happen, as evidenced by numerous reports.
Therefore, the issue of liability after an accident has occurred is one of the core elements of the new British Act.
The bill clearly states that “if an accident occurs, the enterprise will be responsible”. This means that in cases where the vehicle is controlled by an autonomous driving system, the human driver will not be responsible for driving-related accidents.
Every approved autonomous vehicle has a corresponding “authorized autonomous driving entity,” usually the manufacturer, but it could also be a software developer or insurance company. When the autonomous driving mode is activated, this entity will be responsible for vehicle safety issues.
Furthermore, the government will establish a vehicle approval system with a fully independent accident investigation function, and some companies approved to operate under the new regulations are expected to fulfill “continuing obligations” to ensure the safety of their vehicles.