English and Scottish Law Commissions Publish Joint Report on Self-Driving Cars

The Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission have published a joint report on automated vehicles.

The report into self-driving cars comes after 3 rounds of extensive consultations.

Recommendations cover approval and authorisation of self-driving vehicles, ongoing monitoring of their performance while they are on the road, misleading marketing, and both criminal and civil liability. 

They include:

• Writing the test for self-driving into law, with a bright line distinguishing it from driver support features, a transparent process for setting a safety standard, and new offences to prevent misleading marketing.
• A new in-use safety assurance scheme to provide regulatory oversight of automated vehicles throughout their lifetimes to ensure they continue to be safe and comply with road rules.
• New legal roles for users, manufacturers and service operators, with removal of criminal responsibility for the person in the passenger seat.
• Holding manufacturers and service operators criminally responsible for misrepresentation or non-disclosure of safety-relevant information.