Ministers: Self-Driving Car Makers, Not Drivers, Legally Liable for Crashes

Undated image of a driverless car. Philip Toscano/PA

Companies making and operating self-driving cars will be legally liable for any crashes under a framework for developing autonomous vehicles (AV), the government said.

Individuals will be protected from being unfairly held accountable when a self-driving vehicle is driving itself, “given it does not make sense to then hold the person sat behind the wheel,” the ministers have argued.

The rules establishing legal liability in self-driving vehicles sector were set out by Downing Street after the announcements made in the King’s Speech on Tuesday.

King Charles listed the Automated Vehicles Bill as one of the 21 bills on the government’s legislative agenda, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak aims to pass between now and the next general election.

The new bill “will unlock a transport revolution,” enable safe deployment of driverless cars and “cement the UK’s position as a global leader in this high tech,” a government paper vowed.

The new legislation will set “rigorous safety” rules. Companies will have to meet safety requirements from the moment a vehicle gets on the road. If they fail, the companies will face fines, sanctions or suspension of operation. Criminal offences will apply in serious cases, the paper said.

At the same time, the bill gives people immunity from prosecution when a self-driving vehicle is driving itself. Human drivers will still be responsible for maintaining insurance and proper loading.

The legislation prohibits misleading marketing and warns that only vehicles that meet the safety threshold can be marketed as self-driving.

In all other cases, the responsibility lies with the driver at all times.

Safety and Growth

Ministers have argued that self-driving vehicles will only make transport safer and more accessible.

“Self-driving vehicles won’t get tired or distracted. They won’t worry about the children in the back seat, stress about their next meeting or be anxious to get home for dinner. They are likely to react more quickly than a human, remaining consistently able to assess how to drive safely in a fraction of a second,” a government report on connected and automated mobility said.

The potential to reduce costs, injuries and fatalities is enormous, Downing Street said, noting that 88 percent of accidents currently involve human error.

For every 10,000 errors made by drivers, a self-driving vehicle will make just one, according to research by the Institute for Engineering and Technology.

Head of policy at the British automotive services company RAC, Simon Williams, said that while the new bill was necessary, the government had to turn attention to the state of UK roads.

“It’s hard to fathom how driverless cars will be able to safely navigate our streets when so many road markings are faded, and then there’s the prospect of vehicles getting needlessly damaged by the UK’s pothole plague as they surely won’t be programmed to avoid them,” Mr. Williams said.

‘Huge Growth Potential’

Regulation is key for the safe introduction of self-driving vehicles on UK roads, said the Head of Verification and Validation of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles at WMG, University of Warwick, Professor Siddartha Khastgir.

He urged the government to ensure that the regulatory framework of the new bill “is robust and underpinned by strong research outcomes.”

Government ministers acknowledged the likelihood of incidents involving self-driving vehicles in the future. The Automated Vehicles Bill is meant to ensure that these incidents are appropriately responded to and investigated.

Officials also believe in the sector’s “huge growth potential.”

The sector’s share of the UK market can reach £42 billion, creating 38,000 skilled jobs by 2035, the paper said.

The new bill is part of the UK’s plan to lead the self-driving vehicle supply chain globally. In Sept. 2022, the government invested £66 million to support projects, developing prototype passenger and logistics services.

Over £400 million in joint industry-government funding has been allocated to more than 90 projects involving 200 organisations, working in the sector.

Downing Street envisions that self-driving cars will be on UK roads as early as 2025.