Users of self-driving cars should have immunity from a wide range of motoring offences, including dangerous driving, speeding and jumping red lights, Britain’s law commissions have jointly recommended.

The Law Commission for England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission propose creation of an Automated Vehicles Act to reflect the “profound legal consequences” of self-driving cars. The person in the driving seat would no longer responsible for how the car drives; instead, the company or body that obtained authorisation for the self-driving vehicle would face regulatory sanctions if anything went wrong.
In a summary of the report, published on Wednesday, the commissions say: “While a vehicle is driving itself, we do not think that a human should be required to respond to events in the absence of a transition demand (a requirement for the driver to take control). It is unrealistic to expect someone who is not paying attention to the road to deal with (for example) a tyre blow-out or a closed road sign. Even hearing ambulance sirens will be difficult for those with a hearing impairment or listening to loud music.”

The report says that there should be a clear distinction between driver support and self-driving and that a vehicle should only be classified as the latter if it is safe even when an individual is not monitoring the driving environment, the vehicle or the way that it drives.

The commissions say it should be permissible for an autonomous car to create a transition demand for the driver to take control if it confronts an issue it cannot deal with but it must make the demand in a clear fashion, give the individual sufficient time to respond and be able to mitigate the risk if a human fails to take over, by at least coming to a stop.

In the US, Tesla’s self-driving technology, sold under the brand names Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, have been involved in multiple crashes, including several fatalities, when neither the system nor the driver intervened. The US Department of Vehicles is reviewing Tesla’s use of the term “full self-driving”. In Britain, the commissions recommend new safeguards to stop driver assistance features from being marketed as self-driving.

Public law commissioner Nicholas Paines QC said the recommendations presented “an unprecedented opportunity to promote public acceptance of automated vehicles”.

Transport minister Trudy Harrison said: “The development of self-driving vehicles in the UK has the potential to revolutionise travel, making every day journeys safer, easier and greener.

“This government has been encouraging development and deployment of these technologies to understand their benefits. However, we must ensure we have the right regulations in place, based upon safety and accountability, in order to build public confidence. That’s why the department funded this independent report.”

Under the recommendations, which will now be considered by the respective governments, the user-in-charge of a self-driving vehicle would still retain responsibilities such as such as carrying insurance and ensuring that children wear seatbelts. Where vehicles are authorised to drive themselves without anyone in the driver seat, a licensed operator would be responsible for overseeing the journey.

Tesla announced Q4 2021 financial results with impressive figures, essentially beating analysts’ expectations by a margin. Later on, Elon Musk took the stage to brief the investors on the company’s plans. Down on the chopping board went the $25,000 affordable EV that Musk “sold” to investors two years ago, among other things.
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Elon Musk was a lot less bullish than he used to be on an average earnings call, and the most important thing we learned is that Tesla is freezing everything for now. Forget the Roadster, forget the Cybertruck, and, sadly, forget the affordable compact EV we were hoping for. Tesla seems content with the state of affairs right now, expecting to sell a lot more of the already expensive Model Y and pretty much nothing else.

Musk blamed the chip shortage for this bleak perspective, but in fact, he wanted to say that Tesla got the taste of the money and a $25,000 car is no longer appealing. The vehicle market is already at a record high and Tesla raised its vehicles’ prices several times. The Model Y starts now at $54,000 and Tesla is still struggling to fulfill the high demand. Why go for a cheaper vehicle when it already has all the market it can address and then some?

“We’re not currently working on the $25,000 car,” Musk said while answering a question regarding a lower-priced Tesla for mainstream consumers. ”At some point, we will. We have enough on our plate right now. Too much on our plate, frankly.”

This essentially means there will never be a $25,000 Tesla, just like there was never a $35,000 Tesla Model 3. Elon Musk is famous for his “overpromise, underdeliver” approach. Ruling out completely the $25,000 car means it’s dead for good. And he’s right on one thing, too: the market is heading in a direction where we will most likely not see a $25,000 vehicle of any kind soon.

Elon Musk emphasized during the earnings call that Tesla will continue to focus on the products that are the most profitable. These are the Model Y, the Full Self-Driving suite, and, possibly, the Tesla Semi. Tesla will be flooding the market this year with Model Y crossovers coming out of four Gigafactories – Fremont, Austin, Shanghai, and Berlin. So, you see, there are few incentives for a cheaper and, no doubt, less profitable car.

Full Self-Driving is a controversial technology right now, but things are expected to change. According to an Elon Musk tweet, FSD will be so advanced that other carmakers will have to license it from Tesla. This will be a very lucrative line of business for the American EV maker.
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Tesla is not the only producer that pledges to bring autonomous driving vehicles on the roads. At this time, Tesla does not seem very advanced either, with FSD not being certified for Level 3 autonomy. By contrast, Mercedes-Benz certified the S-Class for Level 3 autonomous driving, and Honda did the same in Japan with the Legend. Yet, Elon Musk is convinced Tesla will crack Level 4 by 2023, and that FSD will be at least 2-3 times better than a human at avoiding accidents.

In a reply to a Twitter topic by Steven Mark Ryan, Elon Musk said Tesla is probably “five years or more” ahead of any other company in solving the autonomous driving problem. The exchange continued with Steven saying most of them will realize Tesla’s lead is unassailable and just license Tesla’s tech. “After all, when Tesla has data showing FSD is 2x, 5x, 10x safer than human and second place isn’t even at human-level…. is licensing FSD really a choice or an obligation?”, writes Steven. This didn’t go in the wind, as Musk confirmed “Tesla will support FSD licensing by other manufacturers.”

Tesla licensing the FSD technology is a major point, opening a new revenue line for the company that could be worth trillions. And yet, Elon Musk favoring FSD over hard things like the Cybertruck or the $25,000 car was a disappointment at the company’s earnings call. People still have a hard time comprehending autonomous driving is way bigger than any vehicle any carmaker might bring to the table.

And could be big not just for the car industry, but also for other companies, ranging from the military to robotics. It could have such profound implications that it would change everything we know about the world today. If it cracks the autonomy problem, Tesla will sit on huge piles of money.

Remember the days when people were convinced Tesla would never turn a profit and go bankrupt? Those days are gone, and so there will be a moment when “FSD is vaporware” will be behind us as well.