The Transport Committee has welcomed the Government’s positive
response to its calls for new legislation for self-driving
vehicles, but says its ‘safety ambition’, for the technology to
replicate a human driver, is “too weak”.
The warning comes after the cross-party Committee received the
Department for Transport’s (DfT) response to its major report on the UK’s
emerging self-driving vehicles (SDVs) sector.
Earlier this month the Government announced via the King’s Speech
new
legislation to regulate SDVs after the Committee’s report
urged for action to be taken just weeks earlier.
The report’s recommendations and Government’s response are
summarised below.
Transport Committee Chair
said:
“Britain’s cutting edge self-driving vehicles sector was
crying out for new legislation, so we applaud the Government for
staying ahead of our international competitors and bringing
forward the Automated Vehicles Bill so that this British success
story stays on track.
“It is also welcome that DfT is taking a serious look at
other practical considerations around educating and training
drivers, improving digital infrastructure and having regard for
the wellbeing of other road users, including those with
accessibility needs. However we await more detail on these
points.
“We remain concerned that the Government’s ambition for how
safe SDVs should be may end up being too weak and too vague and
that a more fleshed out, stronger threshold should be set
out.
“We look forward to scrutinising the Automated Vehicles Bill
when it reaches the House of Commons.”
The ‘safety ambition’: The Government rejects
the Committee’s recommendation that it should set out a clearer
threshold and definition for its ‘safety ambition’, that it
believes SDVs will be “expected to achieve an equivalent level of
safety to that of a competent and careful human driver”. The
Committee’s report called this “too weak and too vague”. The
Government also has yet to respond to its consultation on setting
the safety ambition which concluded in October 2022.
However, the Government’s response does say that it intends to
“publish a statutory ‘Statement of Safety Principles’ which will
support the safety ambition, and which will be used in the
assessment of the safety of self-driving
vehicles”.
Driving tests: MPs heard concerns that drivers
of SDVs could become less practised and less skilled over time,
while experiencing new demands of having to retake control of
vehicles with little notice. Responding to a recommendation that
DfT should set out a strategy to confront this issue, including
possible changes to driving tests, the Government said “work is
underway to consider the education, training and licensing needs
of drivers” as part of the CAVPASS programme including
recent changes to the Highway Code
and a “communication toolkit”.
Accessibility: The Committee’s report urged
ministers to “take a cautious, gradual approach with the
technology introduced only in well-defined and appropriate
contexts”. It warned that “without careful handling, self-driving
vehicles could worsen congestion and exacerbate existing
inequalities in transport access”. The response says the uptake
of SDVs will be “gradual” to allow government to learn from
trials and early deployments and for the public to adjust. It
adds: “In deciding whether to grant an automated passenger
service permit, government must have regard to how the service
will meet the needs of disabled and older persons”.
Infrastructure improvements: The report said
SDVs will need well-maintained roads and signage, nationwide
connectivity, and up-to-date digital information about the road
network, and that the Government should ensure that meeting these
needs becomes an area of focus when planning
infrastructure.
This recommendation was partially accepted. The DfT said it
“recognises that physical and digital infrastructure has the
potential to support and enhance self-driving and connected
vehicle technologies”. It adds that the new Bill includes
provisions for the digitisation of Traffic Regulation Orders
which “can support the safe operation” of SDVs through better
digital mapping and information sharing between local
authorities. It highlighted its Wireless Infrastructure Strategy
and Connected Places Cyber Security Principles in relation to the
rollout of SDVs.
