In Connected & Automated Mobility 2025: Realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles in the UK, the UK Government states that it sees self-driving vehicles as the future of road travel. It also sets out its response to the Law Commission’s recommendations for a new legislative framework for “safe self-driving road vehicles”.
The document includes one question:
What are your views on the government’s proposed safety ambition that self-driving vehicles would be expected to achieve an equivalent level of safety to that of a competent and careful human driver?
PACTS welcomes this consultation.
PACTS supports research into connected and autonomous vehicles. We take a positive approach to the development of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and whatever can be learned to improve road safety. Many questions remain to be answered and many issues resolved before AVs can be deployed safely for public use on our roads. We would be opposed to taking shortcuts which compromised safety in order to accelerate the deployment of this technology. Testing of AVs should be controlled and risk to the public should be as low as reasonably possible. The public should not be used as guinea pigs or used to test “beta” systems on public roads.
The response from PACTS can be accessed here.
Further details of the consultation and the government’s plan for self-driving vehicles can be found here.
