A new All Party Parliamentary Group for Connected and Automated Mobility

As announced at Highways UK 2020, Burges Salmon and AXA UK are setting up a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM).

During the session, introduced by Prospective Chair Ben Everitt MP, David Williams (Managing Director, Underwriting and Technical Services at AXA UK) and I discussed why AXA UK and Burges Salmon decided to work together to set up the new APPG for CAM and what we see as the priorities for the first 12 months.

Why now? 

In 2019, the APPG for Electric and Automated Vehicles changed its scope to focus solely on electric vehicles. Whilst that change is understandable, the removal of a cross-party forum on CAM came at an all too important time in the UK’s move to be a world-leader in CAM technologies.

The UK’s CAM sector is pushing-ahead at great pace. The efforts of stakeholders focused on developing the technology is being supported by the work of the likes of the CCAV, Zenzic, the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission and the British Standards Institute. We see the APPG for CAM as providing an additional boost of momentum to ensure that the UK remains a world leader and exporter in CAM technology.

What do we think the priorities are for the first 12 months? 

As outlined in the session, we hope that the new APPG for CAM can bring the following areas to the attention of parliament:

• Data: since working together on the Innovate UK funded FLOURISH project, AXA UK and Burges Salmon have been calling for an industry-wide ‘data map’ for the CAM ecosystem so that we can work towards creating the frameworks for effective governance of data.
• Continued Funding: we want to encourage continuing investment in the CAM sector to support the UK being a leading exporter of CAM technologies.
• Legal & Regulatory Frameworks: there is considerable work being done by the likes of the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission and the British Standards Institute. We fully support that work and want to continue to see developments in the legal and regulatory frameworks to support the UK being a world-leader in CAM regulation.
• Consumer Education: consumer education is vital. In developing new technology and regulation, we need to ensure that we are taking on board the views of all stakeholders including government, road safety agencies, charities and importantly, end users of the technology. Industry stakeholders must provide information to ensure that end users understand the capabilities and the limitations of CAM technologies.

Burges Salmon has been involved in CAM since 2014. Our work includes acting as legal partner on 5 Innovate-UK funded CAV projects: VENTURER, FLOURISH, Capri, Robopilot and MultiCAV. We are a technical author on BSI PAS 1882 and a steering group member for BSI PAS 1883 and the CAV Vocabulary.

If you would like to hear more about the APGG for CAM, please contact me ([email protected]) or the APPG for CAM ([email protected]).