Federation to respond to 'self-driving' vehicle consultation

Published: 16/06/2025

The Department of Transport (DfT) has launched a statutory consultation on the implementation of the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, which was passed under the previous administration.

Full details are available here https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/automated-vehicles-statement-of-safety-principles/automated-vehicles-statement-of-safety-principles#pre-deployment  

Currently any automated driving systems require the need for a 'safety' driver, but the Act allows advancement to the next stage of deployment of fully automated 'driverless' vehicles (AVs).

This consultation focuses on the construction and application of the Statement of Safety Principles (SoSP) that the Act obliges the Secretary of State for Transport to make.

The Statement prescribes the characteristics of a safe AV, how it should be tested prior to deployment, regulates its behaviour once deployed and ensures its continued safety on the roads.

With a target date of 2027 for the completion of secondary legislation to fully implement the Act, the Government intends to allow small-scale trials of certain types of AVs (Uber-type taxis and bus-like services) in spring 2026.

The Federation has responded to previous consultations on AVs (under the guise of Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKS)), and is now closely examining this current one. The focus of any response will have the following principles at its core:

• The SoSP must ensure the safe interaction between any AV and historic vehicles (HV)
• The safe deployment of AV should not require any restrictions on the freedom of HVs to operate.

These are the issues that the Federation encourages members to examine in the DfT consultation documents, and to share with the Federation their views on the questions asked.