Some of the first ‘automated’ vehicles to be deployed on our roads will require a system of shared driving with a human driver. While this creates technical and operational challenges, the law must also facilitate such a transfer. One method may be to obtain the driver’s consent to share operational responsibility and to delineate legal responsibility between vehicle and driver in the event of an accident. Consent is a voluntary agreement where an individual is aware of the potential consequences of their consent, including the risks. The driver of a partially automated vehicle must be informed of potential risks before giving consent to share operational responsibility. This paper will refer to the inherent dangers associated with shared operational responsibility, in particular where there has been a request for the driver to take back control from the automated vehicle during the journey. Drivers are likely to experience delay in regaining situational awareness, making such operational transfers hazardous. It is argued that where an interactive digital interface is used to convey information, such as driver responsibility, risk and legal terms, drivers may fail to sufficiently process such communications due to fundamental weaknesses in human–machine interaction. The use of an interactive digital interface alone may be inadequate to effectively communicate information to drivers. If the problems identified are not addressed, it is argued that driver consent may be inconsequential, and fail to facilitate a predicable demarcation of legal responsibility between automated vehicles and drivers. Ongoing research into automated vehicle driver training is considered as part of the preparation required to design driver education to a level whereby drivers may be able to sufficiently understand the responsibilities involved in operating a partially automated vehicle, which has implications for future driver training, licensing and certification.

The conglomeration of regulatory frameworks for the testing of prototype autonomous vehicle s in Europe creates a challenging task for developers and researchers planning pilots across borders. While there are examples of international autonomous driving projects and cooperation in autonomous vehicle research, Europe lacks a mutually recognised testing procedure for autonomous vehicle pilots, and incompatible legal and administrative processes in each country creates a disincentive for ambitious cross-border testing. The diverse climate and topography of Europe potentially provides a rigorous testing ground for autonomous vehicles, and an opportunity to prepare the new technology to deal with varied signage, language and driver behaviour encountered when travelling across multiple countries.Prototype vehicles tested in such conditions provide valuable insight for research and product development. This may be encouraged by a more harmonised prototype testing framework including a pan-European type-approval exemption scheme for prototype vehicles, and for cross-border tests to be coordinated by regional organisations interested in promoting development in border areas.

This paper considers how the implementation of a tradable credit scheme (TCS) may be used to reduce road traffic and to contribute to the formation of liveable cities and global climate change commitments. The concept of applying TCS to individual road transport is familiar to transport researchers as a measure to regulate congestion and reduce transport-related emissions. Yet, it is not a strategy currently being considered by policy makers in the UK, despite the electrification of the road vehicle fleet and the associated loss of tax revenue presenting a rare opportunity to alter the economic instruments, which apply to road traffic. We consider how transport researchers can capitalise on this unique moment in transport history to shape transport policy. Our study uses qualitative methods, including a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with transport stakeholders and experts, in addition to a literature review and document analysis. Data analysis is inductive, permitting the formation of new ideas about the potential benefits of TCS and the barriers to the application of TCS to real-world policy. Building upon the results of TCS experiments and the results of our analysis, we propose a novel potential form of TCS combined with road pricing to maintain government revenue, which incentivises road users to decrease road vehicle kilometres travelled and reduce pollution and congestion. The proposal contributes to the discussion on the governance of road transport and taxation.

Platoon services are being driven by the development of Internet of things, prompting changes in existing businesses and the generation of new businesses. In this paper, a business model and business model canvas related to platoon services are proposed, and the cost analysis of heavy freight transport platoon services from the perspective of platoon leaders and followers is conducted. In addition, the fuel consumption saving brought about by platoon services in freight transport of 28 European Union countries is estimated. The results indicate that the providers of the autonomous driving package, Internet of things devices and the platoon service platform are new stakeholders in the business model. The business model canvas shows the value propositions of platoon services, such as increased traffic efficiency, decreased energy consumption, and the opportunity of involvement in other activities. In addition, the analysis of cost structures for platoon leaders and followers shows that the autonomous driving package has the highest percentage of cost in the first year of a vehicle’s lifespan and decreases rapidly in the years that follow. The platoon services ease the financial burden of the leaders due to decreased fuel consumption and income from the leading service, with the highest value up to 4.7%. As for the fuel consumption reductions benefited from platoon services, Germany may have the largest potential of national annual fuel saving, followed by France, Spain and the United Kingdom, while the countries that may benefit the most from fuel savings in international freight transport are Poland and Spain.

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