Today we are publishing ‘Responsible Innovation in
Self-Driving Vehicles’, a report that sets out proposals for
a trustworthy approach to the regulation and governance of
self-driving vehicles. The report proposes how we can update our
current legal and regulatory systems that rely on holding
licensed human drivers accountable.
The recommendations in this report directly support the
government’s ‘Connected and Automated
Mobility 2025: Realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles in
the UK’ - a roadmap to developing a new legislative
framework to build trust in self-driving vehicles while enabling
innovation.
Supporting UK leadership on AI governance
With the right design, regulation and governance can actively
enable responsible innovation.Our report provides a comprehensive
view of how the recent proposals set out by
the Law Commissions can be supported by a responsible
and trustworthy regulatory and assurance framework.
This report takes a broad view of the factors that are crucial to
public trust: safety; data privacy and fairness. We also look at
the areas that will be important enablers to responsible
innovation: facilitating sufficient explainability to ensure
accountability; data sharing; promoting public trust and
effective governance.
The recommendations in our report aim to ensure a fair,
trustworthy and proportionate approach to the regulation and
governance of self-driving vehicles to build public trust and
confidence in their use, which in turn will drive responsible
adoption and innovation.
The flexible, pro-innovation approach taken in this report
supports the government’s ambition to build the most trusted and
pro-innovation system for AI governance in the world, and aligns
with the recent ‘Establishing a
pro-innovation approach to regulating AI’ paper. It also
forms part of the CDEI’s wider programme of work on AI Assurance,
which supports the development of an effective and mature
ecosystem of AI assurance services in the UK.
Working in partnership to drive responsible
innovation
We were commissioned to produce these recommendations by
the Centre for Connected and
Autonomous Vehicles, a joint policy unit within the
Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Energy
& Industrial Strategy.
The report has been informed by the expert contributions
of Professor John
McDermid and Professor Jack Stilgoe, and
through engagement with members of the Centre for Data Ethics and
Innovation Advisory Board and key stakeholders,
including the Law Commission of England and
Wales and the Scottish Law Commission,
the Information Commissioner’s
Office, the Office of the Biometrics
and Surveillance Camera Commissioner, the Driver and Vehicle
Standards Agency, and the Vehicle Certification
Agency.
Next steps
This report will inform the work of the Centre for Connected and
Autonomous Vehicles as they develop primary and secondary
legislation in this area. As they start to implement the
new legislative and regulatory frameworks for self-driving
vehicles, we will continue to support their development.
We are also exploring pilot projects to demonstrate different
approaches to algorithmic explainability in this domain directly
with industry partners. If you would be interested in working
with us as a pilot partner or would like to find out more about
this report, please contact us at cdei@cdei.gov.uk.
