Automated Vehicles Act 2024

Enacted to move the UK from trials to the safe commercial deployment of self-driving technology, the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 fills critical gaps concerning safety, liability, and consumer confidence. It establishes a statutory authorisation regime and safety standard for vehicles ‘designed to travel autonomously’, ‘capable ... of travelling autonomously’, not ‘being controlled’ or ‘monitored ... by an individual’. The Act allocates responsibilities to authorised self-driving entities and licensed ‘no-user-in-charge’ operators, sets rules on accident liability, and prohibits misleading marketing about automation capabilities. Although it does not expressly refer to artificial intelligence, its framework governs the operation of systems that may rely on AI or machine-learning technologies to perform automated driving functions, providing the legislative foundation for the safe integration of autonomous mobility into UK transport law.