Key Updates to the UK’s Self-Driving Regime

On 7 July 2026 the government published its response to the consultation on protecting marketing terms for automated vehicles and laid The Automated Vehicles (Marketing Restrictions) Regulations 2026 before Parliament. The Regulations, made under section 78 of the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, will come into force on 7 January 2027.

The intention behind these restrictions appears to be to draw a clear line between:

• self-driving / automated driving systems (ADS) – systems that can drive safely and legally without human monitoring or control; and
• advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) – systems that assist a driver but always require a human driver in charge.

The concern is that marketing ADAS as if they are truly autonomously self-driving can undermine the integrity of the statutory safety authorisation/listing process and create dangerous misconceptions about drivers’ responsibilities.

What has been protected?

From 7 January 2027, the following protected terms (and their grammatical variants) may only be used in marketing directed at end users in the UK for vehicles that are formally listed (under the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018) or authorised (under the AVA) as able to drive themselves safely and legally:

• "automated";
• "automated driving";
• "autonomous";
• "autonomous driving";
• "drive autonomously";
• "drive itself";
• "driverless"; and
• "self-driving".

Importantly, the consultation response confirmed that “automated” and “autonomous” are protected terms when used to describe the whole vehicle or its overall driving functionality or capability. However, it remains permissible to use these words for specific features (for example, “autonomous emergency braking”), provided that the description does not suggest the vehicle is self‑driving.
These restrictions sit alongside the broader “confusion offence” in section 79 of the 2024 Act, which makes it an offence to use any business communication that is likely to mislead end‑users into thinking that an unlisted/unauthorised vehicle can travel autonomously, safely and legally - even if none of the protected terms are used.

What does this mean in practice?

The key practical implications are:

• You must not use the protected terms in UK-directed marketing for vehicles that are not listed/authorised as self-driving. This includes ADAS vehicles, however advanced.
• You should review model names, feature descriptions, websites, brochures, in vehicle user facing text and promotional materials for UK audiences ahead of 7 January 2027 to ensure that they do not include any of these restricted marketing terms.
• Rebranding or rewording may be required where terminology could either:
  • fall directly within the protected terms; or
  • be caught by the confusion offence because it implies the driver can lawfully disengage from the driving task.

The government has indicated that the list of protected terms, and wider guidance on enforcement, will be kept under review as technology and marketing language evolve.

On 23 April 2026, the UK Government published its response to the consultation on the Automated Passenger Services (APS) permitting scheme and introduced the Automated Vehicles (Permits for Automated Passenger Services) Regulations 2026. The Regulations came into force on 15 May 2026, establishing the permissions regime for operators seeking to provide passenger services using authorised automated vehicles.

On the same date, Part 5 of the AVA (with the exception of section 84 and certain provisions of section 89) also came into force. Part 5 establishes the statutory framework for APS permits, including powers to grant permits for automated passenger services, provisions disapplying certain existing licensing requirements, requirements for obtaining consent from relevant local authorities and transport bodies, and obligations relating to the provision of traffic authority information.

Together, these developments represent the first significant operational components of the AVA to take effect and provide the legal basis for future automated passenger services, including taxi- and bus-style self-driving operations.

The Department for Transport's call for evidence on the future regulatory framework for automated vehicles closed on 5 March 2026. The consultation sought views on how key elements of the AVA should operate in practice, including type approval, authorisation, data collection, cyber security, enforcement and incident investigations.

A formal government response has not yet been published. Once released, it is expected to provide important insight into the next phase of implementation of the UK's self-driving regime. Watch this space for an update on this once released.

In our earlier article, we noted that the Statement of Safety Principles ("SoSP") would play a central role in determining how the AVA's statutory self-driving test is applied in practice. Since then, on the 17 June 2026, the government has taken a significant step forward by launching a statutory consultation on the draft SoSP. On the same date, it also published its analysis of responses to the previous year's call for evidence on the SoSP.

The consultation, which remains open until 9 September 2026, seeks views on the draft principles that will guide the eventual assessment of whether an automated vehicle can safely and autonomously operate on UK roads. The SoSP is intended to form a key part of the AVA's safety framework and may also be used in the ongoing monitoring of authorised self-driving vehicles.

Consistent with the AVA's overarching approach, the draft SoSP is built around the principle that authorised automated vehicles should achieve a level of safety at least equivalent to that of a careful and competent human driver. Once finalised, the SoSP is expected to become one of the most important components of the UK's automated vehicle authorisation framework, providing greater clarity on how vehicles will be assessed both at the point of authorisation and throughout their deployment.

Alongside the legislative developments, the government has accelerated practical deployment activity. On 22 May 2026, applications opened for operators to join a new self-driving vehicle pilot scheme in the UK. The scheme is intended to facilitate taxi, private hire and bus style self-driving services and to gather real world evidence on how these vehicles operate on everyday roads, with the results feeding into the wider regulatory framework.

The pilot marks an important step towards the use of self-driving vehicles in passenger services, with the first passenger carrying services expected later this year, and demonstrates the government’s continued commitment to bringing self-driving services to UK roads in advance of full implementation of the AVA regime.