Self-driving car owners won’t be to blame for crashes under proposed new laws

UK law chiefs recommend new regulation on autonomous driving, including assigning responsibility for errors and a crackdown on misleading marketing

The owners of self-driving cars will not be responsible for accidents caused by automated technology under proposals from the UK’s leading legal authorities.

A new report into the introduction of autonomous vehicles says that the manufacturer or body which gains approval for the car should, instead, be to blame for any errors or law-breaking when self-driving features are in use.

The report from the Law Commissions of England and Wales and Scotland also says that new legislation is needed to regulate automated vehicles, and demands new measures to make clear the difference between driver assistance systems and true self-driving capabilities.

The debate over who will bear responsibility for illegal or unsafe driving by automated vehicles is among the key issues in developing the technology but the Commissions’ report sets out two key suggestions on the subject.

The Law Commissions recommend clear guidance and a legal approval system for truly autonomous vehicles

It recommends the introduction of a new Automated Vehicles Act which would see an official regulatory body set up to approve and regulate any vehicles with “self-driving features” which do not require the person in the driver’s seat to be in control.

Under its proposals when a car is authorised as having self-driving features and those features are in use, the person in the driver’s seat would not be responsible for how the car drives and couldn’t be prosecuted for any offences arising from the driving task. They would become a “user in charge”, only responsible for secondary issues such as ensuring the car was insured, checking loads are safely secured and children are strapped in.

Instead, the manufacturer or body which obtained the car’s automated driving approval would be liable for any errors, such as speeding, running a red light or causing a collision.

Announcing the report, which was commissioned in 2018 by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, Nicholas Paines QC, Public Law Commissioner for England and Wales, said: “We have an unprecedented opportunity to promote public acceptance of automated vehicles with our recommendations on safety assurance and clarify legal liability.”