UK Government support for connected and autonomous vehicle industry and related cyber concerns

Driverless vehicles are fast becoming a reality. It is estimated that the UK driverless car industry will be worth £28 billion to the UK economy and employ 27,000 people by 2035.

In light of this, it is unsurprising that in its 2017 Autumn Budget, the UK Government committed to boosting productivity (by supporting emerging technologies in order to build an economy that is driven by innovation). This includes an intention to lead in development standards and ethics for the use of data and AI, and to create the most advanced regulatory framework for driverless cars in the world.

The Budget sets out the steps that the Government is taking to ensure the UK is a leader in the development and deployment of new technologies. This includes plans to invest £1 billion in technology projects, including £400m for electric car charging points and £75m for research on artificial intelligence. The Government has also stated that is expects to see fully automated vehicles in commercial use in the UK by 2021 and that it will amend the regulatory framework where appropriate to help support this aim. The National Infrastructure Commission also plans to launch a new innovation prize to determine how future roadbuilding should adapt to support driverless cars.In parallel, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill (the “Bill”) was announced in the Queen’s speech last year. The Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons on 29 January 2018 and has begun its progression in the House of Lords. The Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords on 30 January with the second reading scheduled for 20 February, at which there will be a general debate on all aspects of the Bill. The Bill aims to:

• specify who is liable for damages following accidents caused by automated vehicles; and
• improve the network of charging points for electric vehicles.

The Bill meets these aims by extending the application of insurance law from a (human) driver-centric model to one that will cover automated vehicles where the car is essentially the driver. The proposed powers in the Bill would also allow the Government to regulate to improve the consumer experience of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, to ensure provision at key strategic locations like Motorway Service Areas (MSAs), and to require that charge points have “smart” capability.

The Bill forms a key part of the regulatory regime required for rapidly evolving automated and electric vehicle technology, a further critical element of which is ensuring the cyber security, data security and integrity of automated and electric vehicles. In the latter half of 2017, the Government sought to address the cyber security of automated vehicles in eight key principles. The principles are designed to encourage the industry to work together to enhance cyber security in this sector and place responsibility for system security at board level.

The principles are summarised below:

• Principle 1: organisational security is owned governed and promoted at board level
• Principle 2: security risks are assessed and managed appropriately and proportionately, including those specific to the supply chain
• Principle 3: organisations need product aftercare and incident response to ensure systems are secure over their lifetime
• Principle 4: all organisations, including sub-contractors, suppliers and potential third parties, work together to enhance the security of the system
• Principle 5: systems are designed using a defence-in-depth approach
• Principle 6: the security of all software is managed throughout its lifetime
• Principle 7: the storage and transmission of data is secure and can be controlled

The Government has previously stated its ambition to become a “leader” in autonomous technology. Its commitment to creating an adequate regulatory and legislative framework and provide funding in this area are both clears indication of its support for the further development and mass production of automated and connected vehicle technologies.

We recently hosted a series of panel discussions with guest speakers from a range of expertise to discuss the novel and challenging issues that arise from the evolving automated and connected vehicle technologies. Our latest report, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: Navigating the Future, considers some of the key questions, challenges and potential solutions that were discussed during these sessions and that are expected to arise as this technology is developed and commercialised.