The Law Commission has launched the second of its consultations on Autonomous Vehicles, this time considering a national licensing scheme for ‘Highly Automated Road Passenger Services’ (HARPS).
This consultation is the latest paper to come from a three-year project lead by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission which aims to examine options for regulating automated road vehicles.
At the start of 2019, the first consultation paper considered safety assurance together with civil and criminal liability. It made reference to a service which uses self-driving vehicles to provide journeys to passengers without a human driver or user-in-charge. The vehicle would be able to travel empty or with only passengers on board.
The latest consultation also discusses private ownership of passenger-only vehicles, accessibility for older and disabled people, how to control congestion on public roads and how regulation can help self-driving vehicles integrate with public transport.
The BVRLA has repeatedly met with the law commission to raise data access requirements and highlight the need for a legislative review to ensure that the introduction of driverless vehicles adequately considers safety as well as clarifying responsibility for reporting accidents and maintaining vehicles.
The association will continue to work closely with the law commission on this latest consultation, raising issues around access to data in ongoing discussions and within its response to the consultation.
The full consultation document can be read on the Law Commission website. The deadline for responses is 16 January 2020.
