In the second part of this special series on road traffic accident reform, Nicholas Bevan reports on the difficulties of regulating highly & semi-automated vehicles
Section 2 of the Autonomous and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 (the 2018 Act) confers a new right of action directly against motor insurers This is reserved for victims of accidents caused by ‘ automated vehicles’ when ‘ driving themselves’ . These are vehicles that the minister must first list under s 1 as suitable for lawful use and which are ‘… designed or adapted to be capable, in at least some circumstances or situations, of safely driving themselves … on roads or other public places.. .’ Section 8 interprets ‘ driving themselves’ as ‘… operating in a mode in which it is not being controlled, and does not need to be monitored, by an individual’ .
Most experts doubt that the motor industry is close to producing software that can deliver fully autonomous driving: ie a vehicle that dispenses entirely with the need for a human driver and that is capable of driving safely anywhere a normal vehicle
