The Department for Transport (DfT) will reportedly test its proposed insurance rules for autonomous vehicles on public fleets first before applying them to private cars.
The DfT met with the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) on March 07 to discuss the Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill, the legislation that sets out the insurance framework for self-driving cars in the UK.
“At the moment, there is no great change for the private sector as this will come further down the line,” he added.
Cusworth said using the public sector first as a test bed is the “right approach.”
“This is the Government setting out its stall first before looking at the private sector,” Fleet News quoted him as saying.
The government has not set a timetable for the private sector application of the proposed insurance rules, according to Cusworth.
“The DfT is waiting on international feedback from the United Nations on the Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations and this will help inform how it proceeds on this complex issue in the future,” he said.
Under the pending rules, driverless vehicles will be required to have a single insurance product to cover both the motorist when they are driving and the car when it is in automated mode.
The proposed measure enables the driver to hand full control and responsibility to the self-driving vehicle when automated mode is turned on. Car owners will be liable if they have made unauthorised changes to the vehicle’s software or if they have failed to install an update that their policy requires them to.
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