Introduction

1.1 The history of car making has been one of gradually increasing levels of automation. The first cruise control was marketed in 1958. In 1995, ‘adaptive cruise control’ was launched, which allowed a vehicle to use sensors to stay a fixed distance from a vehicle in front. By 2010, more advanced functions were being added, such as ‘blind spot intervention’ and ‘active lane keeping assist’. More recently, manufacturers have begun to build on such functions to develop integrated ‘motorway assist’ systems, to take full control of the vehicle’s position and speed whilst driving along a high-speed road, under the supervision of the driver. It is then a relatively small step towards vehicles that do not require the supervision of the driver at all on certain types of roads, and from then on to full automation. It is with the law of such highly and fully automated vehicles that this book is concerned.