Gov’t proposes regulatory regime on the use of autonomous vehicles

The bill will be up for the Legislative Council’s reading on 14 December.
 
The proposed new regulatory framework for the trial and specified use of autonomous vehicles –- Road Traffic (Amendment) (Autonomous Vehicles) Bill 2022 –- will be introduced to the Legislative Council on 14 December.
 
The Transport & Logistics Bureau, which proposed the bill, said autonomous vehicles technology has the promising advantage of enhancing road safety, optimising the use of limited road space and thereby reducing car accidents arising from human error. 
 
In the Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint 2.0 published in December 2020, one of the smart mobility initiatives is to facilitate the technological advancement and industry development in Vehicle-to-Everything and autonomous vehicles.
 
The government then proposed amending the Road Traffic Ordinance and also empowering the Secretary for Transport & Logistics to make new subsidiary legislation, Autonomous Vehicles Regulation, to establish a suitable regulatory regime to facilitate the trial and specified use of autonomous vehicles.