Driverless cars and other automated vehicles offer major potential benefits and could profoundly change our lives for the better. They will make driving easier, allow people to be more productive and offer greater mobility to a wider range of people than ever before. They will also help improve road safety, reduce emissions, and ease congestion. As a result they could provide significant economic, environmental and social benefits, including improving social inclusion. This review marks the UK Government’s initial stage in analysing, understanding and developing a strategy to ensure we capture these potential benefits while maintaining our excellent road safety record. The simultaneous development of a combination of technologies has brought about this opportunity. For example, some current production vehicles now feature adaptive cruise control and lane keeping technologies which allow the automated control of acceleration, braking and steering for periods of time on motorways, major A-roads and in congested traffic. Advanced emergency braking systems automatically apply the brakes to help drivers avoid a collision. Self-parking systems allow a vehicle to parallel or reverse park completely hands free. Developments in vehicle automation technology in the short and medium term will move us closer to the ultimate scenario of a vehicle which is completely “driverless”. 3. he next step is the introduction of vehicles in which the driver can choose whether they want to drive or not. If they select an autonomous mode, they can allow the vehicle to take care of driving while they make use of the journey time in other ways. While the term “driverless” is often used to describe these technologies, the reality is that entirely removing the need for a driver (and therefore automating steering and other controls) is a longer term goal for most vehicle types. Certainly for the testing phase there will always need to be a suitably qualified ‘test driver’ who will be supervising the vehicle and be ready and able to take over active control if necessary. The focus of this review is to ensure the UK is at the forefront of the testing and development of the technologies that will ultimately realise the goal of driverless vehicles. We have learnt from existing international experience and the views of stakeholders. This has been combined with our own internal expertise to inform the actions detailed in this report which will ensure the UK retains its significant competitive edge in this area. The review has examined the approaches being taken in North America, Europe, Japan and China. The views of stakeholders were also gathered and analysed in a ‘call for evidence’. 38 responses were received from a wide range of stakeholders, including the key representative bodies for the automotive and insurance industries, the legal profession, technical institutions, and groups representing a wide range of road users, from children and disabled people to drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists. The responses from stakeholders to the ‘call for evidence’ have been considered throughout the review. Individual analysis of the key themes discussed and how the stakeholders responded to each question can be found within the full supporting document: The Pathway to Driverless Cars: A detailed review of regulations for automated vehicle technologies. Our approach also included a review of existing UK regulations and legislation to examine their compatibility with automated vehicle technologies. Driverless vehicles can legally be tested on public roads in the UK today. The UK is uniquely positioned to become a premium global location for the development of these technologies. This review of existing legislation found that our legal and regulatory framework is not a barrier to the testing of automated vehicles on public roads. Real-world testing of automated technologies is possible in the UK today, providing a test driver is present and takes responsibility for the safe operation of the vehicle; and that the vehicle can be used compatibly with road traffic law. North America has been the first country to introduce legislation to permit testing of automated vehicles, but only four states have done this. Fifteen states have rejected bills related to automated driving and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a preliminary statement of policy which advises states against authorising members of the public to use self-driving vehicle technology at this time. In Europe, only Germany and Sweden are known to have completed a review of their legislation in this area, with a further three countries currently progressing one. Those wishing to conduct tests in the UK are not limited to the test track or certain geographical areas, do not need to obtain certificates or permits, and are not required to provide a surety bond (provided they have insurance arranged). We believe the UK is therefore uniquely positioned to become a premium location globally for the development of these technologies. In summary the UK is uniquely positioned to help develop automated vehicle technologies and bring these to market: • The Government is developing a light touch/non-regulatory approach to the testing and development of these technologies — as set out in this review. • The Government can facilitate long distance and large area public road testing now — our Code of Practice approach can be applied across the UK, unlike many other countries which offer only selected roads or small, restricted geographical areas. • The UK has some of the most challenging and diverse traffi, road and weather conditions in Europe and London is Europe’s only ‘Megacity’. This makes the UK the ideal centre for testing and developing these technologies. In this review the Government has set out clear next steps showing how we will continue to ensure the regulatory and legislative framework is there to support the further development and mass production of automated vehicle technologies. (Author/publisher)
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