Commenting on the Government's announcement of changes to the Highway CodeLink opens in a new window to help ensure the first wave of self-driving vehicles are used safely on UK roads, Dr Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Verification & Validation, Intelligent Vehicles at WMG, said:

“The proposed changes to the Highway Code are an important part of the jigsaw in realising safe introduction of self-driving vehicles on UK roads.

"We are pleased to see that our responses to DfT’s consultation have been taken on board and reflected on the proposed draft amendment to the Highway Code including the list reference for users to check if their vehicle is self-driving or not and the articulation of driver’s responsibilities..

"However, there is a need for wider public engagement and awareness programme to to ensure users have clear understanding of their DOs and DON'Ts in a self-driving vehicle. Furthermore, for a scalable safety assurance framework for self-driving vehicles, we will need an unambiguous set of rules of road which will need to be followed by the machines (self-driving vehicles).”

20 April 2022