Taking the UK as an example, the UK’s road traffic legislation is driven by international frameworks such as UNECE Regulations and from EU directives that set out the requirements for vehicle approvals and product liability.
Currently, the industry is grappling with legal uncertainty around so-called “Level 3” vehicles which are not entirely autonomous and require the driver to take control of the vehicle in certain circumstances.
The German legislator is now in the process of drafting amendments to German traffic laws to enable the deployment of autonomous vehicles within a specified “operation range” of public roads (“Level 4”).
While the proposals being worked on are not as ambitious as the legislator trailed in 2018 – when it outlined its intention to present a legal framework covering autonomous vehicles up to “Level 5” – it should create the prerequisites to allow for the standard operation of autonomous vehicles on public roads.
The proposals include the creation of specialist agencies to investigate accidents and new legal concepts to try and deal with the allocation of liability for accidents – such as the “Automated Driving System Entity” putting the vehicle or service on the market and the “User In Charge” who may be required to take control of the vehicle in certain circumstances.
Further reform to existing legislation and the Highway Code is under consideration with a view to allowing the use of ‘Advanced Lane Keeping Systems that can take control of vehicles.