Automated Vehicles: Consultation on Draft Statement of Safety Principles

I would like to provide the House with a further update on the progress the Government have made in implementing the Automated Vehicles Act 2024.

Today the Government are publishing their analysis of responses to last year’s call for evidence on the statement of safety principles. The call for evidence sought views on how the statement of safety principles could be used, described and measured.

Alongside this publication, the Government are launching a statutory consultation on the draft statement of safety principles. This public consultation will seek views from organisations representing road users, road safety groups, and self-driving vehicle businesses, in line with the requirements set out in section 2(3) of the AV Act 2024. The consultation will be open until September 2026. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, the statutory statement of safety principles for AVs will be laid before Parliament next year for approval.

Safety sits at the heart of the AV regulatory framework, ensuring that AVs are safe to use on Great Britain’s roads and remain safe throughout their deployment. A cornerstone of this framework is the statutory statement of safety principles, which will guide the Secretary of State in decisions on whether an AV can be deployed on Great Britain’s roads, and in the ongoing monitoring of authorised AVs.

There are also principles relating to behaviours specific to an AV, such as operating only within their authorised domain. In addition, the Secretary of State may have regard to the statement of safety principles when deciding whether the in-use regulator should investigate an incident, and when considering whether to impose sanctions and the appropriate extent of any such sanctions.

The statement of safety principles will provide guidance on the behaviours that the Secretary of State expects to see from vehicles in meeting the self-driving test of travelling safely and autonomously. Consistent with the AV Act 2024 and international United Nations Economic Commission for Europe regulations, the safety standard underpinning the statement of safety principles is that AVs should achieve a level of safety equivalent to at least that of careful and competent human drivers.

To achieve this, the draft principles are based on several behaviours considered to be consistent with careful and competent human drivers. These cover five broad themes:

Vehicle control

Hazard anticipation, perception and reaction

Obeying traffic rules

Interaction with other road users

Adaptability to road conditions

This is a reserved matter, as the statement of safety principles is made under the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, which confers these functions on the Secretary of State. The statement of safety principles extends to England and Wales, and Scotland, and applies to England, Scotland and Wales.

The statement of safety principles consultation has been laid as a Command Paper in both Houses. The summary of responses to the statement of safety principles call for evidence and a research report into public perceptions of AV safety that supports the development of the statement of safety principles will be placed in the Library of each House. All papers are published on gov.uk.

[HCWS119]