Expert comment on the Automated Vehicles (Permits for Automated Passenger Services) Regulations 2026
Monday 27 April 2026
WMG professor comments on the Automated Vehicles (Permits for Automated Passenger Services) Regulations 2026
Expert comment from Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Head of Safe Autonomy at 糖心TV Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of 糖心TV.
"The laying down of before Parliament is a landmark moment for the UK; it translates the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 into operational reality and provides a clear legal route for commercial self-driving passenger services on Britain鈥檚 roads.
With the law coming into force on 15 May 2026, it ensures operators are periodically reassessed rather than granted an indefinite licence. Additionally, the phased permit approach, starting shorter and extending as confidence grows, reflects the kind of proportionate, evidence-led regulatory thinking that self-driving vehicle technology demands.
Taking a safety-first approach, I am encouraged by the clear provisions around permit variation, suspension, and withdrawal on safety grounds, including serious traffic infractions and roadworthiness concerns. The preceding consultation rightly acknowledged the importance of engaging with emergency services and traffic authorities before deployment.
Robust safety assurance cannot rest on regulation alone. The regulation鈥檚 information-sharing provisions are vital to ensuring transparent data flows between operators, emergency services, and the Secretary of State, and will be essential infrastructure for establishing public trust. However, the regulation needs to be complemented with a standardised framework for information content and format, without which we risk creating an inconsistent evidence base across different operators.鈥�
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