Autonomous Vehicles “Pedal to the Metal Or Slamming on the Brakes?” Worldwide Regulation of Autonomous Vehicles Norton Rose Fulbright: Where Can We Take You Today?
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Financial institutions Energy Infrastructure, mining and commodities Transport Technology and innovation Life sciences and healthcare Autonomous vehicles “Pedal to the metal or slamming on the brakes?” Worldwide regulation of autonomous vehicles Norton Rose Fulbright: Where can we take you today? Paul Keller Huw Evans Partner, New York Partner, London Tel + 1 212 318 3212 Tel + 44 20 7444 2110 [email protected] [email protected] Frank Henkel Barbara Li Partner, Munich Partner, Beijing Tel + 49 89 212148 456 Tel + 86 10 6535 3130 [email protected] [email protected] More than 50 locations, including Houston, New York, London, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Johannesburg and Dubai. Attorney advertising Autonomous vehicles “Pedal to the metal or slamming on the brakes?” Worldwide regulation of autonomous vehicles Norton Rose Fulbright – September 2018 03 Contents I. Introduction 05 II. Australia 06 III. Canada 30 IV. China 35 V. France 39 VI. Germany 43 VII. Hong Kong 57 VIII. India 62 IX. Indonesia 74 X. Japan 77 XI. Mexico 86 XII. Monaco 89 XIII. Netherlands 92 XIV.Nordic Region (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) 99 XV. Poland 102 XVI. Russia 106 XVII. Singapore 111 XVIII. South Africa 123 XIX. South Korea 127 XX. Thailand 132 XXI. Turkey 134 XXII. United Kingdom 137 XXIII. United States 149 04 Norton Rose Fulbright – September 2018 Autonomous vehicles – “Pedal to the metal or slamming on the brakes?” Worldwide regulation of autonomous vehicles I. Introduction Norton Rose Fulbright’s third annual Autonomous Vehicle White Paper, its most ambitious to date, addresses the worldwide regulatory landscape facing the autonomous vehicle market. It covers 25 countries – with Norton Rose Fulbright operating in each one – and summarizes the key aspects of each country’s regulatory scheme concerning AVs. As of the date of this publication, self-driving cars have logged The resulting panoply of rules could not be more varied: in over 10 million miles (16 million1 kilometers) around the globe. Amsterdam, Austin, Copenhagen, Guangzhou, London, • United States: Currently has no unitary federal Ottawa, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney, all have legislation governing autonomous vehicles; the 50 self-driving cars shuttling their citizens around2 in what nearly states have created a patchwork quilt of rules by either all experts agree are safer, more efficient vehicles. The world enacting their own unique regulations for these vehicles already is witness to the change that the automotive industry or by applying their variation of the “traditional” is going through and how the leaders in the automotive field requirements to these new cars. (both old and new) are continuing to embrace these innovative vehicles and develop their market. • India: The laws currently do not permit self-driving cars out of a concern over a potential loss in jobs. The But this change has come at some cost. Out of the nearly industry, however, including the automotive players 1.2 million worldwide annual vehicle deaths reported in and tech start-ups, has entered the country with 2017,3 it was the four fatalities (three drivers, one pedestrian) the belief that the current rules will eventually involving self-driving cars since 2016 that consumed the accommodate these vehicles. media’s attention. These incidents have, at least in some part, shaken the confidence of the public in this technology and its • Singapore: In what could be the world’s first country overall safety. Questions have been raised over whether the that widely adopts autonomous vehicles, last year technology is “ready” to provide all of the benefits that have Singapore enacted rules that exempt autonomous been touted for so long. vehicles and their operators from the existing legislation that places the responsibility for the safe use of motor Although the industry is trying to tackle some of these vehicles on a human driver. concerns, the role that lawmakers and local authorities will have in this process will and should be considerable. To be • South Korea: Perhaps the most aggressive country sure, there are only a few global, standard rules governing in terms of government investment in autonomous automobiles, and even fewer addressing autonomous vehicles. vehicles, South Korea recently enacted rules that One of the few examples is the Vienna Convention on Road allow particular self-driving cars to operate on over Traffic. Since 1968, this treaty has required that a human 320 kilometers of roads and is building an entire driver be in full control of and responsible for the behavior of artificial town for autonomous vehicle testing. Hyundai the vehicle in traffic. This requirement, however, is now being showcased the innovations in the country by deploying revisited all over the world, as individual regions are tailoring autonomous cars during the 2018 Winter Olympics. their laws to reflect their own, local balance between safety and the development and use of self-driving vehicles. We hope that these materials will not only be useful to those 1 See Timothy Lee, “Waymo announces 7 million miles of testing, putting it far ahead of rivals,” in the self-driving field by providing insight into the current Ars Technica, June 6, 2018, available at https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/06/waymo- set of global rules that are governing the space, but also to the announces-7-million-miles-of-testing-putting-it-far-ahead-of-rivals. In addition, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, in 2017, autonomous vehicles logged more than general public and its understanding of the efforts being taken 500,000 miles (800,000 km) on public roads in that state. See “DMV Posts 2017 Autonomous Vehicle Disengagement Reports Online,” Jan. 31, 2018, available at https://www.dmv.ca.gov/ to enhance automotive safety and to encourage innovation and portal/dmv/detail/pubs/newsrel/2018/2018_09. investment in this exciting industry. 2 Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Aspen Institute, “Initiatives on Cities and Autonomous Vehicles,” available at https://avsincities.bloomberg.org/ (accessed June 8, 2018). 3 “Economies of scale will push the market for driverless vehicles towards monopoly,” The Economist, June 9, 2018, at 66. Norton Rose Fulbright – September 2018 05 Autonomous vehicles – “Pedal to the metal or slamming on the brakes?” Worldwide regulation of autonomous vehicles II. Australia Speed, fatigue and alcohol remain the main causes of death and injury on Australian roads. Place of residence, age and medical conditions affect freedom of mobility. Autonomous vehicles are reaching the capacity to positively influence those social issues and there is likely to be a significant shift in car ownership from individuals to conglomerates. It is a race now for our laws and other social responses to adapt in time so that there is confidence in the deployment of autonomous vehicles and so that economic and social benefits are realised rather than hindered. Australia wants to keep pace with the rest of the world in the Those key legal issues include: application of technology to the planning and management of future transport systems. • Regulatory • Product Liability One of the fundamental underlying premises of the • Privacy and Cybersecurity development and adoption of autonomous vehicles is that • Intellectual Property the result will be improvement, perhaps a very substantial • Insurance improvement, in the rate of fatalities and other injuries associated with the use of motor vehicles. Aside from the There is no doubt that the introduction of this technology obvious benefits to the community in decreasing the numbers will result in the most radical changes to the ground-based of deaths and injuries, there is a substantial economic transport industry since the invention of the car over 130 advantage in doing this; the cost to society of road crashes in years ago. Australia has been estimated at some AU$27 billion annually. There will be a shift in car ownership to conglomerates such Our governments are working with industry, investors, as mobility companies. Together with a potential decrease in academics and the private sector to position Australia as a place the number of vehicles due to “ride sharing” of autonomous to test and develop autonomous vehicle technology so that vehicles, there will also be a shift in emphasis from product existing infrastructure and social systems can accommodate supply to service provision. The shift will affect public emerging vehicles. However, in undertaking that work, transport options and bear upon what infrastructure will be Australia’s present policy position recognizes the importance necessary to support those services. of not getting ahead of international developments.4 This section leads interested industry participants and This chapter draws on the insight and expertise of our lawyers observers through Australia’s legal response to the exciting and to summarise the key legal issues as these innovative machines keenly anticipated introduction of autonomous vehicles. continue to be developed, tested and deployed in Australia. 4 Transport and Infrastructure Council Communiqué, May 2018. Ernest van Buuren Michael Sullivan Partner, Brisbane Partner, Sydney Tel+ 61 7 3414 2276 Tel+ 61 2 9330 8886 [email protected] [email protected] 06 Norton Rose Fulbright – September 2018 Autonomous vehicles – “Pedal to the metal or slamming on the brakes?” Worldwide