This report examines the issues that will arise due to the arrival of more automated and fully autonomous and studies how authorities might best respond to these issues. It discusses regulatory considerations and policy choices as well as key challenges that may arise.

Key findings

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"Automated driving technologies are mostly mature and some autonomous driving is here already. Most of the core technologies required for fully autonomous driving are available today, many are mature and some are already being deployed in commercially available vehicles."

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"There are two incremental paths towards full automation. The first path involves gradually improving the automation in conventional vehicles so that human drivers can shift more of the dynamic driving task to these systems. The second path involves deploying vehicles without a human driver in limited contexts and then gradually expanding the range and conditions of their use. The first path is generally embraced by traditional car manufacturers and the second by new entrants."

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"Some regulatory frameworks are being developed for prototype testing, but not for future use cases. Several jurisdictions have passed or are considering rules that enable the testing, licensing and operation of autonomous technologies and vehicles. Most address the safe operation of these vehicles on public roads, although with little coordination among jurisdictions. We could not find evidence of anticipatory regulatory action addressing the potential use cases that could result from large-scale deployment of highly autonomous vehicles, such as the provision of quasi-public transport or taxi-like operations."

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