Automated Vehicles on UK Roads: the start of the journey?

The UK government has, since around the mid-2010s, been refining its thinking on the legal framework required to enable automated vehicles (AVs) to be used safely on our roads. The first major step was the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 (AEVA), which was followed by three years of wide-ranging and thorough research by the Law Commission.

The vast majority of the Commission’s recommendations were taken forward in the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, which was passed with cross-party support just six weeks before the 2024 general election. Around the same time, the government undertook a separate consultation about permitting the use of automated lane keeping systems (ALKS) in certain traffic conditions.

The 2018 Act sets down rules on civil liability and insurance in respect of automated driving. The 2024 Act goes much further, covering matters such as pre-market authorisation, in-use monitoring, accident investigations, new criminal offences and civil sanctions, licensing of operators of automated vehicles without users-in-charge, and permissions for automated passenger services.

An enabling Act with broad principles

However, the 2024 Act is very much only an enabling Act: meaning it deals with broad principles rather than the detail of the various regulations required. The intention always was that those would be set down in statutory instruments and industry codes of practice which would be developed in phases of consultations, over the next two years or so, by the government working in conjunction with industry stakeholders.

This two year process was expected to start in 2025 and to begin with the Secretary of State for Transport fleshing out the “statement of safety principles” required by the Act for assessing whether an AV can travel “autonomously and safely”. Once developed, the Act stipulates that both Houses of Parliament must approve the statement before it can take effect.

Accelerating pilot schemes for self-driving vehicles

On 11 June 2025, the current Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, announced (1) that she intends to enable widespread pilot schemes of self-driving taxis and buses by spring 2026, which is a year earlier than had been expected (the Automated Vehicles Implementation Programme which was only published in February had referred to aiming for the safe deployment of AVs in 2027).

At the heart of the government’s announcement are the desire for the UK technology sector to be a global leader in this area and to realise the potential economic benefits, which are said to be the creation of nearly 40,000 jobs and a £42 billion boost to the economy by 2035.

Pioneering robotaxi trials

These pilot schemes will, in allowing taxi and bus services to operate without a safety driver in the vehicle, go much further than any currently permitted AV trials. In reporting this, BBC News used the sub-headline “Uber will trial robotaxis - autonomous cars with no human safety driver at the wheel - in London next spring” and commented that “the UK government changed its rules about the driverless cars again (2).”

Aside from the news on robotaxis, on 11 June the government also began two critical consultations under the 2024 Act. The first concerns the statement of safety principles (3) mentioned above and the second seeks to address protected marketing terms (4). The consultation periods for both will end on 1 September.

The second includes a draft regulation which lists terms that must not be mis-used when supplying or promoting vehicles, obvious examples being automated, autonomous, driverless, and self-driving. The misuse of such terms will be a criminal offence under the Act. The draft regulation is dated 2026, which reinforces the new plan to trial robotaxis next year.

Statement of Safety Principles (SoSP) consultation

The consultation on the statement of safety principles (SoSP) is more nuanced and more likely to be of greater interest to insurers. The keys to understanding the SoSP are that (i) the Act requires that the standard of safety is equivalent to or higher than that of “careful and competent” drivers and (ii) it requires that ensuring ongoing safety compliance will fall on a new body to be known, rather unimaginatively, as the Automated Self-Driving Entity (ADSE).

Every automated driving system (ADS) will be required to have the backing of an ADSE and the Secretary of State will authorise only those ADSs and ADSEs that meet stringent technical safety standards, demonstrate appropriate financial resources / protections and are of good reputation. This authorisation process - which is outlined in part 1 of the 2024 Act - is in addition to the vehicle type approval process. It should be noted that United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is currently developing a new approval regulation to ensure consistent standards apply to AVs. UNECE is also working on principles concerning ALKS.

Data preservation for insurers

One of the critical issues for insurers within the authorisation process under the 2024 Act is the preservation of, and appropriate access to, vehicle data for the purposes of adjusting claims involving AVs and, where appropriate, pursuing recoveries (5). In the new SoSP consultation, the government signals that it intends to launch a call for evidence “in autumn 2025”. At the time of writing that is only a few months away, so one might readily conclude that the authorisation call for evidence could begin very shortly after the SoSP consultation ends.

Detailed AV data requirements for insurance purposes have already been carefully developed by the Association of British Insurers and Thatcham Research (6). The call for evidence on authorisation represents a vital opportunity for that detail to be taken forward in the finalised regulations around authorisation of ASDEs.

Conclusion

Given that authorisation, along with type approval, is one of the essential preliminary steps to ensuring the safety of AVs and ADSs, we would strongly encourage anyone involved in road safety, or the underwriting of motor insurance, or in dealing with road traffic accident claims, not only to respond it to the consultation but to follow closely its evolution and implementation.

Reference Index

1. Driving innovation – 38,000 jobs on the horizon as pilots of self-driving vehicles fast-tracked - GOV.UK
2. Uber brings forward trialling driverless taxis in UK - BBC News
3. Automated vehicles: statement of safety principles - GOV.UK
4. Automated vehicles: protecting marketing terms   - GOV.UK
5. AEVA 2018 imposes quasi-strict liability in the insurer of an AV when in it is driving autonomously. It also provides the insurer with statutory rights of recovery against “any other person liable to the injured party”, which would include vehicle manufacturers and companies that developed the ADS.
6. Thatcham-Research-Insurer-Requirements-For-Automated-Vehicles.pdf