Skip to main content

Queen’s Speech introduces automated and electric vehicles bill

An Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill is to be introduced to encourage the use of electric and self-driving cars, the UK government has announced in the Queen’s Speech this week.
June 22, 2017 Read time: 1 min
An Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill is to be introduced to encourage the use of electric and self-driving cars, the UK government has announced in the Queen’s Speech this week. The Bill is designed to ‘ensure the UK continues to be at the forefront of developing new technology in electric and automated road vehicles’.


The Bill will allow the regulatory framework to keep pace with the fast evolving technology for electric cars, helping improve air quality. It also provides for the installation of charging points for electric and hydrogen vehicles.

Compulsory motor vehicle insurance would be extended to cover the use of automated vehicles, to ensure that compensation claims continue to be paid quickly, fairly, and easily, in line with longstanding insurance practice.

Related Content

  • January 24, 2012
    In-vehicle automation of safety compliance and other traffic violations
    David Crawford explores new initiatives in enforcement. Achieving the EU’s new road safety target of reducing road traffic deaths by 50 per cent by 2020 depends on removing legal and institutional barriers to the deployment of new enforcement technologies, stresses Jan Malenstein. The senior ITS Adviser to Dutch National Police Agency the KLPD, and a European-level spokesperson on road and traffic safety, points to the importance of, among other requirements, an effective EUwide type approval process for fr
  • November 24, 2016
    UK government to invest in autonomous cars, low emission vehicles
    Presenting his Autumn Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced investment in transportation, including £390 million for future transport and a major new investment in the UK transport infrastructure. The £390 million investment in future technology includes: investment in testing infrastructure for driverless cars; provision of at least 550 new electric and hydrogen buses, reduce the emissions of 1,500 existing buses and support taxis to become zero emission; installation of more charging points fo
  • November 17, 2014
    Kenya to introduce microchip-fitted number plates
    Shem Oirere looks at Kenya’s plans to introduce a new generation of vehicle registration plates fitted with microchip technology by the end of this year. In a move to improve driving standards and prevent fraud, the authorities in Kenya are planning the introduction of a new numberplate system which will incorporate microchip technology.
  • December 16, 2014
    Dynamic charging boosts electric vehicles’ potential
    With an increasing need to use electric vehicles in city centres to reduce pollution, David Crawford looks at various solutions to power delivery. The UN’s September 2014 Climate Summit has added fresh momentum to the drive to increase urban electric vehicle (EV) takeup. It has launched the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative, which wants to see EVs accounting for 30% of all urban travel by 2030, and make cities worldwide more friendly to their use. Encouragingly, the plan is being well supported by commerci