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

  • "AI can help fast-track Net Zero and Vision Zero," says VivaCity
    January 16, 2024
    Artificial intelligence isn't just about self-driving cars - and ‘smart’ doesn't always have to be shiny, new and innovative. Mark Nicholson, CEO at VivaCity, offers a few predictions for 2024...
  • Jet engine range extenders for electric vehicles
    June 19, 2015
    In its latest report, Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles Land, Water & Air 2015-2025, IDTechEx claims that over eight million hybrid cars will be made in 2025, each with a range extender, the additional power source that distinguishes them from pure electric cars. Add to that significant money spent on the same devices in buses, military vehicles, boats and so on and a major new market emerges. Whereas today's range extenders usually consist of little more than off the shelf internal combustion engine
  • Sanef awarded major Dartford Crossing toll contract
    October 7, 2013
    The UK Highways Agency has awarded the US$589 million contract for the design, implementation, delivery and operation of the new free-flow charging system to sanef. The seven-year deal includes the opportunity to extend up to a further three years. New technology will allow drivers to use the crossing without having to stop at the barriers to hand over payment. Road users will be able to pay through a variety of methods including telephone, text, online and at retail outlets. Pre-paid accounts which qual
  • Infrastructure and the autonomous vehicle
    December 12, 2014
    Harold Worrall ponders the effect of autonomous vehicles on transportation infrastructure. For the last century the transportation industry has been focused on the supply of infrastructure to support the ever growing fleet of vehicles and the greater number of miles covered by each vehicle. Our focus has been planning, funding, designing, building and maintaining roadways. Politicians, engineers, planners, financial managers … all of us have had this focus. We have experienced demand growth since the first