The UK’s automated vehicle landscape is approaching a pivotal regulatory phase, with the Department for Transport (DfT) preparing to release the long-anticipated Main Regulations Call for Evidence – informally labelled by industry as the ‘mega consultation’. This exercise will shape the detailed rules underpinning the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 and determine how autonomous vehicles (AVs) are deployed, operated, monitored, and investigated in England. For insurers, the implications are significant: data access, evidential standards, liability allocation, and in-use safety regulation will all be developed through secondary legislation. Understanding the policy trajectory to date is crucial for anticipating the direction of travel.
Throughout 2025, government activity on AV regulation accelerated, but several key consultations remain open-ended. The Call for Evidence on the Statement of Safety Principles and the consultation on misleading marketing both closed on 1 September 2025, and the sector is awaiting the Government’s response. The Automated Passenger Services (APS) consultation closed shortly after on 28 September, with DfT officials indicating an aspiration – but not a commitment – to publish responses by the end of 2025; in reality, early 2026 is more likely. The Main Regulations Call for Evidence is expected between late 2025 and early 2026, with the detailed Safety Principles consultation due in the first half of 2026. Looking further ahead, the first APS pilots – potentially the UK’s first fully driverless passenger services – are scheduled to go live in Spring 2026, making the next 12-18 months critical for policy formation.
Running alongside this timeline is the Government’s movement on integrating international rules. A separate DfT consultation on incorporating UN regulations into GB type approval closed on 2 December 2024, including proposals to adopt UN Regulation 157 for Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKS). The Government has since confirmed it will mandate compliance. Of note for insurers, UN R157 requires an onboard Data Storage System for Automated Driving (DSSAD) – a form of black box – with a minimum data retention period (expected to be 3 years and 4 months). While retention requirements are clear, questions remain around data sharing, access protocols, and the evidential burden where data is incomplete, absent, or withheld.
The Automated Vehicles Act leaves much of the operational, evidential, and investigatory infrastructure to secondary legislation, making this Call for Evidence uniquely broad. Below is a structured assessment of the areas most likely to feature, informed by the Act, prior consultations, and discussions with the Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CCAV). When asked whether the consultation window might be extended to reflect its anticipated scale, CCAV officials acknowledged the challenge but stressed the need to preserve sufficient time for analysis, ministerial briefing, and timely progression of the regulatory programme.
The consultation will likely explore how AVs must behave in real-world operation, including compliance with the forthcoming Statement of Safety Principles. It is expected to address:
This framework is vital for determining ongoing risk, liability exposure, and insurer access to system-level safety information.
A central feature will be the rules governing:
For insurers, clarity on data availability and fault evidence will be essential.
The consultation is expected to consider standard methods for defining, validating, and adjusting ODDs, including weather, road type, mapping fidelity, and temporary traffic changes. Flexibility will be a key theme, as too rigid a framework could hinder deployment, while insufficient structure could impair risk assessment and enforcement.
Where services use remote supervisors, the regulations will need to address their permissible functions, training and licensing, maximum supervision ratios, communication latency standards, and clarity on liability boundaries. These issues are particularly sensitive for insurers, especially where remote intervention may affect causation or foreseeability.
Perhaps the most consequential area for the insurance sector, this section is expected to examine:
Without reliable data-sharing obligations, the evidential burden in liability and subrogated claims could become untenable.
For systems requiring a fallback-ready user, the consultation may explore how transition demands must be issued, the required response time, minimum risk manoeuvre procedures, and accessibility features of human-machine interfaces.
Finally, stakeholders can expect questions on offences, civil penalties, inspection powers, appeal rights, and the safety-management system requirements expected of AV operators – likely mirroring frameworks used in aviation and rail.
The Call for Evidence is expected to include a specific chapter addressing insurance considerations. This is expected to cover the interaction between insurance, ASDE responsibilities, data access, and evidential requirements, and may signpost the joint ABI–Thatcham work on AV risk assessment and testing methodologies. While a separate strand on product liability is not expected, we anticipate that product liability issues – including the interface between system failures and manufacturer responsibility – can be addressed within this insurance section.
The upcoming Call for Evidence will shape the practical regulatory environment in which AVs operate. For insurers, the key issues will be:
Engagement with the ‘mega consultation’ will therefore be essential. Insurers should prepare for a regulatory landscape in which data is the primary mechanism for establishing liability, identifying systemic risk, and enabling fair underwriting. The inclusion of insurance-specific questions - together with the expectation that product liability themes can be considered when addressing that chapter - means insurers will have a direct opportunity to shape how insurance, system performance, and manufacturer responsibility intersect in the final regulatory model.
The decisions made in this next phase will determine how effectively the insurance market can respond as autonomous services transition from pilots to commercial scale.
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