Thatcham Research has welcomed the UK Government’s latest progress on the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, including the publication of responses to the Statement of Safety Principles (SoSP) consultation, but warns that public trust will be the defining factor in the success of automated driving.  

 

Consumer research from Thatcham Research and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) highlights both the opportunity and the challenge ahead.  

 

Two-thirds (67%) of drivers believe the biggest potential benefit of self-driving technology is reducing accidents by removing human error, but 58% say they will wait for the technology to mature and prove itself before buying a fully automated vehicle.

 

This gap between expectation and confidence underlines what is at stake as the Government moves forward with defining “acceptable safety” for automated vehicles.  

 

Commenting on the announcement, Tom Leggett, vehicle technology manager at Thatcham Research, said: “The question of who pays when an automated vehicle crashes has been asked for years. Right now, the answer is simple – everyone does. That’s how the current insurance model works, with risk shared across all drivers.

 

“As we move towards automation, that model will evolve. But for insurers to price risk fairly and keep cover affordable, they need clarity.”