Views sought on proposed regulatory framework and on traffic risk cases related to automated vehicles

Survey on risky traffic scenarios for automated vehicles

How can cities, transit authorities, government regulators and developers know that AVs are safe before they hit the streets? There are potentially millions or more of risky traffic scenarios, such as pedestrians stepping out into the road unexpectedly or a vehicle appearing quickly around a blind corner. The D-Risk project is building a library of simulated unusual vehicle scenarios (or edge cases)

To help identify those risky situations,D-Risk is running a survey. Survey respondents are invited to share their opinions of how they think both automated vehicles and drivers will behave during unusual and unpredictable events on the road.

The D-Risk Survey is open until 28/2/20. More information about D-Risk: https://drisk.ai/

Consultation on proposals for regulating the deployment of AVs

The UK Law Commissions are seeking views on the third paper of an extensive review of the regulatory framework for automated vehicles.  This paper proposes a safety assurance scheme for the approval and deployment of AVs, safety and criminal liability. The proposals include:

• creating distinctive rules for two types of automated vehicle: AVs that (i) might require human driving for part of a journey and (ii) can complete a whole journey unaided and without a user in the vehicle.
• Safety proposals covering vehicle approval as well as software updates and cybersecurity risks. It includes a shift away from the criminal enforcement of traffic rules towards a new no-blame safety culture including a new range of regulatory sanctions.
• New legal roles to reflect legal responsibilities arising from automated driving, for (i) developers of AVs, (ii) users of AVs that are less than drivers but more than passengers (the user-in-charge), and (iii) AV fleet operators.

During this consultation, views are sought on key questions including:

1. the legal meaning of “self-driving”: the extent of residual responsibility linked with human intervention following transition demands and other events, and ‘how safe is safe enough’. We use Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKS) as a case study.
2. a GB safety assurance scheme for automated vehicles, analysed in the context of the UK’s international obligations. We consider in-use safety including effective monitoring of real-world performance, collision investigation and regulation of software updates.
3. the extent of criminal liability of corporations and senior managers which put AVs forward for approval.
4. access to data that may be required by law to enable the regulatory scheme for AVs to function.

The consultation closes on 18/03/21. Information at : https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/automated-vehicles/