Automated Vehicles Act 2024

Part 1 — Regulatory scheme for automated vehicles

Chapter 1 — Authorisation of road vehicles for automated use

Self-driving capability

Basic concepts

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• (1) This section applies for the purposes of this Part.

• (2) A vehicle “satisfies the self-driving test” if—

• (a) it is designed or adapted with the intention that a feature of the vehicle will allow it to travel autonomously, and

• (b) it is capable of doing so, by means of that feature, safely and legally.

• (3) Whether a vehicle satisfies the test is to be assessed by reference to the location and circumstances of that intended travel (and may differ in respect of different locations and circumstances).

• (4) A “feature” of a vehicle is a combination of mechanical or electronic operations that equipment of the vehicle performs.

• (5) A vehicle travels “autonomously” if—

• (a) it is being controlled not by an individual but by equipment of the vehicle, and

• (b) neither the vehicle nor its surroundings are being monitored by an individual with a view to immediate intervention in the driving of the vehicle.

• (6) References to “control” of a vehicle are to control of the motion of the vehicle.

• (7) A vehicle that travels autonomously does so—

• (a) “safely” if it travels to an acceptably safe standard, and

• (b) “legally” if it travels with an acceptably low risk of committing a traffic infraction.

• (8) In assessing whether a vehicle is capable of travelling autonomously and safely, the Secretary of State must have particular regard to the statement of safety principles.

Statement of safety principles

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• (1) The Secretary of State must prepare a statement of the principles that the Secretary of State proposes to apply in assessing, for the purposes of this Part, whether a vehicle is capable of travelling autonomously and safely.

• (2) The principles must be framed with a view to securing that—

• (a) authorised automated vehicles will achieve a level of safety equivalent to, or higher than, that of careful and competent human drivers, and

• (b) road safety in Great Britain will be better as a result of the use of authorised automated vehicles on roads than it would otherwise be.

• (3) In preparing the statement, the Secretary of State must consult such representative organisations as the Secretary of State thinks fit.

• (4) Those organisations must include organisations appearing to the Secretary of State to represent—

• (a) the interests of businesses involved, or likely to be involved, in the manufacture or operation of mechanically propelled road vehicles designed to travel autonomously,

• (b) the interests of road users, and

• (c) the cause of road safety.

• (5) The prepared statement must be laid before Parliament.

• (6) The statement takes effect if both Houses of Parliament resolve that it should.

• (7) The Secretary of State may revise or replace the statement that has effect under this section; and subsections (2) to (5) apply to a revision or replacement.

• (8) A revision or replacement takes effect at the end of the period of 40 days beginning with the day on which it is laid, unless either House resolves before then that it should not.

• (9) For the purposes of subsection (8)—

• (a) where a revision or replacement is laid before each House on different days, the later day is to be taken to be the day on which it was laid before both Houses, and

• (b) in counting any period of 40 days, no account is to be taken of any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than four days.

• (10) The power in section 3 may not be exercised until a statement has effect under this section.

Grant of authorisation

Power to authorise

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• (1) The Secretary of State may authorise a road vehicle for use as an automated vehicle if—

• (a) in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the vehicle satisfies the self-driving test by reference to intended travel on a road (in at least some circumstances), and

• (b) any applicable initial authorisation requirements are met (see section 5).

• (2) An automated vehicle authorisation may—

• (a) be limited to an individual vehicle, or individual vehicles, identified in the authorisation, or

• (b) extend to all vehicles of a type described in the authorisation.

• (3) The description of a type under subsection (2)(b) must be formulated with a view to securing that the Secretary of State’s assessment for the purposes of subsection (1)(a), and the contents of the authorisation, will be equally applicable in relation to any vehicle of that type.

Authorised automation features

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• (1) An automated vehicle authorisation must identify the feature or features by virtue of which (in the opinion of the Secretary of State) the vehicle satisfies the self-driving test.

• (2) More than one feature may be identified if it appears to the Secretary of State that each can reasonably be characterised as amounting to a distinct capability of the vehicle.

• (3) In relation to each feature identified in the authorisation, the authorisation must specify—

• (a) whether the mode of operation of the feature is “user-in-charge” or “no-user-in-charge”,

• (b) how the feature is engaged and disengaged, and

• (c) the locations and circumstances by reference to which (in the opinion of the Secretary of State) the vehicle satisfies the self-driving test by virtue of the feature.

• (4) The locations specified in the authorisation may include places other than roads.

• (5) If more than one feature is identified in an authorisation, the Secretary of State must discharge the duty in subsection (3)(b) in a way that will make it possible to ascertain which feature (if any) is engaged at any given moment.

Authorisation requirements

Authorisation requirements and conditions

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• (1) The Secretary of State may, by regulations, impose requirements (“authorisation requirements”) that must be met—

• (a) for a vehicle to be authorised under section 3 (“initial authorisation requirements”), or

• (b) as a condition of a vehicle remaining authorised (“ongoing authorisation requirements”).

• (2) Ongoing authorisation requirements may include a requirement for compliance with any conditions that the Secretary of State attaches to an individual authorisation (“authorisation conditions”).

• (3) Authorisation conditions may relate to anything to which authorisation requirements may relate.

• (4) A duty in relation to the imposition of authorisation requirements may be met (in whole or in part) by means of an authorisation requirement of the sort described in subsection (2) in combination with authorisation conditions.

Authorised self-driving entities

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• (1) The Secretary of State must impose authorisation requirements designed to secure that, in respect of each automated vehicle authorisation, a person is designated as the “authorised self-driving entity” for the authorised vehicle at all times.

• (2) Authorisation requirements may include requirements that a person has to satisfy in order to be, or remain, an authorised self-driving entity.

• (3) The Secretary of State must impose authorisation requirements designed to secure, so far as the Secretary of State considers reasonably practicable, that the following objectives are met.

• (4) The objectives are—

• (a) that an authorised self-driving entity should have general responsibility for ensuring that an authorised automated vehicle continues to satisfy the self-driving test by virtue of its authorised automation features, and

• (b) that an authorised self-driving entity should be—

• (i) of good repute,

• (ii) of good financial standing, and

• (iii) capable of competently discharging any authorisation requirements imposed on it for the purposes of paragraph (a).

• (5) Authorisation requirements may include requirements as to the payment of fees by authorised self-driving entities for the grant or continuation of an automated vehicle authorisation.

Transition demands

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• (1) Subsection (3) applies if authorisation requirements in relation to a vehicle with an authorised user-in-charge feature require the vehicle to be able to issue a transition demand while that feature is engaged.

• (2) A “transition demand” is a demand, communicated by equipment of a vehicle in which an authorised user-in-charge feature is engaged, that the user-in-charge assume control of the vehicle by the end of a period of time beginning with the communication of the demand (the “transition period”).

• (3) The Secretary of State must impose authorisation requirements designed to secure, so far as Secretary of State considers reasonably practicable, that—

• (a) the transition demand will be capable of being perceived by anyone who might legally be a user-in-charge of the vehicle (having regard in particular to users-in-charge with disabilities),

• (b) the transition period will be long enough for the user-in-charge to prepare to assume, and assume, control of the vehicle,

• (c) the vehicle will continue to travel autonomously, safely and legally during the transition period,

• (d) equipment of the vehicle will make a further communication at the end of the transition period to alert the user-in-charge to the ending of the period, and

• (e) the vehicle will deal safely with a situation where the user-in-charge fails to assume control by the end of the transition period.

Variation, suspension and withdrawal of authorisation

Power to vary, suspend or withdraw

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• (1) The Secretary of State may vary, suspend or withdraw an automated vehicle authorisation with the agreement of the authorised self-driving entity for the authorised automated vehicle concerned.

• (2) The Secretary of State may vary, suspend or withdraw an automated vehicle authorisation without that agreement if the Secretary of State is satisfied that a unilateral ground has arisen in respect of the authorisation.

• (3) The Secretary of State may suspend or temporarily vary an automated vehicle authorisation without that agreement if the Secretary of State—

• (a) suspects that a unilateral ground has arisen in respect of the authorisation, and

• (b) proposes to enquire into whether it has.

• (4) For the purposes of this section, a unilateral ground arises in respect of an authorisation if—

• (a) an authorisation requirement is not or has not been met in respect of the authorised vehicle,

• (b) the authorised vehicle has committed a traffic infraction, or

• (c) the authorised vehicle no longer satisfies the self-driving test by reference to all authorised locations and circumstances.

• (5) A suspension or variation under subsection (3) may not be kept in force after the process of enquiry has concluded, except for so long as may be necessary to allow action to be taken under subsection (2).

• (6) An authorisation may be suspended or varied under subsection (2) even if it is already suspended, or varied in the same way, under subsection (3) (in which case the new suspension or variation supersedes the existing one).

• (7) Part 1 of Schedule 1—

• (a) makes provision about the procedure applicable in connection with variation, suspension or withdrawal under subsection (2) or (3) (including rights of appeal), and

• (b) provides for a further case in which an authorisation may be varied, suspended or withdrawn without agreement.

Further provision about variation, suspension and withdrawal

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• (1) References in this Part to varying an automated vehicle authorisation include varying, adding to or omitting authorisation conditions attached to the authorisation.

• (2) The variation of an authorisation may be temporary or permanent.

• (3) An authorisation as varied must be such as the Secretary of State could grant anew.

• (4) The suspension or temporary variation of an authorisation—

• (a) may be for a fixed period or indefinite, and

• (b) may be lifted or reversed by the Secretary of State at any time.

• (5) The suspension of an authorisation means that—

• (a) the authorised automated vehicle in question is no longer to be considered such for the purposes of sections 46, 78 and 79, and

• (b) an authorised no-user-in-charge feature identified in the authorisation is no longer to be considered such for the purposes of section 34B(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988,

but does not otherwise affect the authorisation.

• (6) A relevant authorisation measure takes effect—

• (a) when notice of it is issued to the authorised self-driving entity for the authorised automated vehicle concerned, or

• (b) at such later time as is specified in the notice.

• (7) In subsection (6), “relevant authorisation measure” means—

• (a) the variation, suspension or withdrawal of an automated vehicle authorisation,

• (b) the reversal of a variation,

• (c) the lifting of a suspension, or

• (d) the restoration of a withdrawn authorisation (further to a direction under paragraph 3(3) or 4(5) of Schedule 1).

• (8) The Secretary of State must impose authorisation requirements designed to reduce the likelihood of a person’s unknowingly using a vehicle in a way that is no longer in accordance with an automated vehicle authorisation as a result of a variation, suspension or withdrawal.

Administration

Register of authorisations

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• (1) The Secretary of State must keep a public register of automated vehicle authorisations.

• (2) An automated vehicle authorisation takes effect when it is entered in the register.

• (3) The register must record, in relation to each authorisation, the identity of the authorised self-driving entity for the authorised automated vehicle.

• (4) The Secretary of State must amend the register to reflect any relevant authorisation measure as soon as possible after it takes effect.

• (5) In subsection (4), “relevant authorisation measure” has the meaning given by section 9(7).

Regulations about authorisation procedure

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• (1) The Secretary of State may make regulations about the procedure to be followed in connection with—