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Automated Vehicle Safety standards proposed by the government

14 October 20262 min read
News
Aerial view of a motorway with connected and autonomous vehicles tracked by sensor overlays

techUK has submitted its response to the Department for Transport's consultation on the Statement of Safety Principles (SoSP) for automated vehicles (AVs), and we call for further guidance in its implementation.

You can read our full response here.

The SoSP sits at the heart of the framework created by the Automated Vehicles Act 2024. Under that Act, the Statement defines what safe means for a vehicle that drives itself and helps the government ensure that the AV fleet is operating safely. The draft sets the safety standard at "equivalent to a careful and competent human driver" and builds ten principles from observable driving behaviours.

We welcomed the draft from the government and support the three central choices that the Department has made:

  • keeping the Statement tightly scoped;

  • setting the standard at “careful and competent”; and

  • building the principles from behaviours rather than from numerical targets.

We agree with the government's proposed safety standard and believe that if a single standard is to be selected, this is the right one. It is genuinely demanding; a materially higher bar than the average driver; and aligns with international regulation, thereby lowering market entry costs, enabling cross-border deployment, and keeping Great Britain as an attractive first market.

Four themes run through our response. We ask for:

  1. further guidance, which will be vital in giving clarity to the Statement;

  2. the principles to be applied flexibly, judging classes of behaviour proportionately and in context

  3. vehicles to be assessed fairly; and

  4. international alignment to be protected

We have also called for the Department to publish a public-facing map of where each major public concern – cyber resilience among them – is addressed across the wider framework, so that exclusion from the Statement is not read as absence of protection.

The Department will now analyse responses, and the finalised Statement must be approved by Parliament before it takes effect. The remaining consultation on the wider regulatory framework is expected around the turn of the year. Members who would like to shape that work and join our Self-Driving Vehicles working Group should contact robert.price@techuk.org.