The Law Commissions' joint report: Automated Vehicles

On 26 January, the Law Commission of England & Wales and the Scottish Law Commission published the final report in their joint, three-year investigation into law reform and automated driving.

"A high test for a vehicle to be authorised as having self-driving features: it must be safe even if a human user is not monitoring the driving environment, the vehicle or the way it drives. A user may be required to respond to a clear and timely signal to take over driving (a “transition demand”), but otherwise must not be relied on to respond to events or circumstances."

They set out the case for a new Automated Vehicles Act and detail the areas it should cover. We have analysed the final report in full, grouping the Law Commissions' principal recommendations for regulating the safe deployment of self-driving or automated vehicles on British roads into the following themes:

• Ensuring clarity about automated driving and assisted driving
• Establishing new schemes for regulating vehicle safety
• Combatting misleading marketing
• Mandating the sharing of collision data
• Civil liability
• Uninsured AVs
• Product liability
• Criminal liability

*This content was written by BLM prior to its merger with Clyde & Co*