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Self-driving vehicles regulation

Lifecycle: Implementation Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles · Department for Transport · Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency · Ministry of Justice · Public Accounts Committee · Regulatory Policy Committee · Scottish Law Commission Last regenerated 56 minutes ago

Summary

What this is

A new statutory regime — primary Act plus a growing stack of SIs, codes and a Statement of Safety Principles — that governs the authorisation, deployment, liability, marketing and passenger-service permitting of self-driving vehicles in Great Britain. The Department for Transport, supported by CCAV and DVSA, is implementing it phase-by-phase through commencement orders and operationalising regulations.

Why it matters

The framework reallocates criminal and civil liability away from the user-in-charge towards authorised self-driving entities and licensed operators, creates a permit-based market for commercial APS pilots from May 2026, and restricts who may market vehicles as 'self-driving'. It is the operating system on which UK driverless deployment — buses, taxis, freight, delivery — will depend.

Current status

Part 5 (APS permits, with carve-outs for civil sanctions in s.84 and Sch 6) and s.93 came into force on 15 May 2026 alongside the APS Permits Regulations. The Statement of Safety Principles, protected marketing terms regime, and wider regulatory framework are still being built out through consultation responses and a December 2025 call for evidence that closed in March 2026.

What changed recently

  • 12 May 2026 — DfT and AI driving company Wayve announced a partnership to accelerate UK self-driving deployment.
  • 29 Apr 2026 — PQ 129976 (Olly Glover) escalates pavement-robot accessibility concerns for wheelchair and visually-impaired users — flagging a regulatory gap outside the AV Act perimeter. →
  • 23 Apr 2026 — APS Permits Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/439) made; government consultation response and RPC opinion on options assessment published same day. →
  • 23 Apr 2026 — WMS HCWS1537 / HLWS1545 confirm the APS permitting scheme will go live on 15 May 2026. →
  • 31 Mar 2026 — DfT published the Self-Driving Vehicle Pilot Scheme: information for applicants, opening the door to commercial pilots. →

Key documents

Framework

Statutory basis

Operationalising

Implementation

Scrutiny

Evidence

Consultations

Stakeholders

Grouped by role with evidence. Long groups scroll inside their column.

Sponsoring department 4

  • Department for Transport → src
    Sponsor of the AV Act 2024 and the APS Permits Regulations; runs the implementation programme.
  • Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) → src
    Joint DfT/DSIT unit delivering the AV Act implementation programme and the underpinning research base (incl. driver-roles inclusivity and emergency-response studies).
  • Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency → src
    Adjacent regulator: MOT scope and roadside testing powers extended to AV technologies under Part 6.
  • Ministry of Justice → src
    Hosted the Law Commissions' Citizen Space consultation that produced the regime's liability and offences architecture.

Sponsoring minister 4

  • Heidi Alexander → src
    Secretary of State for Transport; signed the July 2025 WMS launching the APS consultation and remains the responsible Cabinet minister for AV implementation.
  • Simon Lightwood → src
    Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport; signed the APS Permits Regulations and the April 2026 WMS HCWS1537 confirming 15 May 2026 go-live.
  • Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill → src
    Minister of State for Transport (Lords); delivered the parallel Lords WMSs HLWS1545, HLWS1130 and HLWS858 across the APS and AV framework workstreams.
  • Lilian Greenwood → src
    Then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport when HCWS692 (10 June 2025) announced acceleration of the APS regulations; current status unknown for this build.

Lead committee 3

  • Public Accounts Committee → src
    Followed up DfT on AV readiness vs. local-road infrastructure; report records DfT's position that AV tech must work with existing highway infrastructure.
  • House of Commons Transport Committee → src
    Authors of the 2023 Seventh Report 'Self-driving vehicles' and First Special Report (Government Response) — the parliamentary scrutiny baseline pre-Act.
  • Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee → src
    Reviewed delegated-powers architecture of the AV Bill (6th and 9th Reports, 2023-24 session).

Regulator / delivery programme 3

  • Regulatory Policy Committee → src
    Issued opinion on DfT's options assessment for the APS permitting SI (April 2026) and an earlier green-rated opinion on the Bill IA.
  • Law Commission of England and Wales → src
    Co-author of the 75-recommendation joint report (Law Com No 404) that frames the regime.
  • Scottish Law Commission → src
    Joint author of the 2022 AV report; co-owner of the regulatory-framework recommendations.

Commentator 8

  • Olly Glover → src
    Liberal Democrat MP; tabled two PQs (129975, 129976) on 29 April 2026 pressing DfT on pavement delivery robots and accessibility for wheelchair users and visually-impaired people.
  • Tony Vaughan → src
    Labour MP; tabled PQ 129515 (29 April 2026) seeking DfT action on road safety, eliciting reference to the Road Safety Strategy under which AV tech sits.
  • Dr Scott Arthur → src
    Labour MP; tabled PQ 129740 (28 April 2026) asking whether ADAS assessment will be added to the MOT — adjacent to AV authorisation.
  • Sarah Coombes → src
    Labour MP; opened the 28 October 2025 Westminster Hall debate on connected and automated vehicles.
  • Lord Davies of Gower → src
    Conservative Lords sponsor of the Automated Vehicles Bill 2023-24 (government bill in the previous Parliament).
  • Mr Mark Harper → src
    Conservative Commons sponsor of the Automated Vehicles Bill 2023-24 as then-Secretary of State for Transport.
  • Chris Grayling ↗
    Conservative; sponsor of the predecessor Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 — the framework SDR/AV Act 2024 builds on for insurance liability.
  • Baroness Sugg ↗
    Conservative; Lords sponsor of the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018.

Witnesses & evidence-givers 1

  • Wayve → src
    UK AI driving company; subject of a May 2026 DfT partnership announcement to accelerate self-driving deployment, indicating the regime's primary commercial counterparty.

Political commitments

What parties and ministers have promised — manifesto pledges, King's Speech announcements, ministerial statements. Each card shows what was said, by whom, and when, with a link to the original source.

  • commitment King's Speech announcement Conservative · 2023 · Automated Vehicles Bill [HL]: HL Bill 1 of 2023–24

    Automated Vehicles Bill announced in the 2023 King's Speech

    Why linked: The Bill that became the AV Act 2024 was introduced as part of the 2023 King's Speech legislative programme, as recorded by the Lords Library briefing.

    Source: Automated Vehicles Bill [HL]: HL Bill 1 of 2023–24 · Original ↗
  • commitment Ministerial statement Labour · 2025 · Automated Vehicles Act 2024 implementation — Ministerial Statement (gov.uk)

    Acceleration of APS regulations as part of the Plan for Change

    I can announce that the government will accelerate the introduction of automated passenger services (APS) regulations, subject to the outcome of a consultation later this summer.

    Why linked: Ministerial statement HCWS692 (10 June 2025) commits the Labour government to accelerated APS commencement under the inherited AV Act.

    Source: Automated Vehicles Act 2024 implementation — Ministerial Statement (gov.uk) · Original ↗
  • commitment Ministerial statement Labour · 2026 · Automated Passenger Services Permitting Scheme

    APS permitting scheme to go live in spring 2026

    This statement provides an update on the Government's work to enable the automated passenger services permitting scheme from this spring, a key step in implementing the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 and supporting economic growth.

    Why linked: WMS HCWS1537 (23 April 2026) commits to 15 May 2026 commencement of Part 5 (except s.84).

    Source: Automated Passenger Services Permitting Scheme · Original ↗

Open questions & gaps

Known gaps in the evidence base and what's still pending.

Pending in the lifecycle

  • Statement of Safety Principles (s.2 AV Act 2024) not yet published; call-for-evidence closed 1 September 2025.
  • Civil sanctions regime in s.84 and Schedule 6 AV Act 2024 not yet commenced — APS scheme is currently live without the bespoke sanction architecture.
  • Protected marketing terms regime (Part 4) only partially commenced — full list of restricted terms still to be set.
  • Operator licensing scheme under Part 1 Chapter 2 (no-user-in-charge) and authorisation regulations under ss.3-11 still in development; informed by the Dec 2025–Mar 2026 call for evidence.
  • Pavement delivery robots remain outside the AV Act perimeter; DfT response to PQs 129975/129976 only commits to micromobility legislation 'when parliamentary time allows'.

Beyond the corpus

  • MISSING Published Statement of Safety Principles laid before Parliament — s.2 requires the Secretary of State to prepare it; call-for-evidence closed Sept 2025 but no laying recorded in the events list.
  • MISSING Authorisation procedure regulations under s.11 — Necessary before any vehicle can be granted self-driving authorisation under s.3; not yet visible.
  • MISSING Operator licensing regulations under s.12 — Needed before no-user-in-charge services can be lawfully run.
  • MISSING Commencement order for s.84 and Sch 6 (APS civil sanctions) — Explicitly deferred by SI 2026/437 reg. 2(a).

Confidence gaps

  • Live incumbency of named ministers — the facts pack flags Lord Hendy, Simon Lightwood, Heidi Alexander and Lilian Greenwood as status-unknown for this build.
  • Substantive positions of named stakeholders other than DfT/CCAV — corpus carries process activity but limited contested-policy detail for industry, disability groups or local authorities.