UK takes first steps toward laws for autonomous cars

The government briefly set out its plan to ready the UK for driverless cars in the Queen's Speech a couple of months ago. And this week, it has launched an open consultation looking at how we can tweak regulations to make them compatible with driverless vehicles (ahead of their inclusion in the Modern Transport Bill). We're aways from being able to take a door-to-door trip without touching the wheel at this point, of course, but naturally the government has volunteered a few early proposals. Amending insurance law is one of the government's top priorities, because people won't be able to buy driverless cars without appropriate insurance. Some insurers are already experimenting with suitable policies, but it's all a question of liability -- a word on the tip of everyone's tongue following the recent, fatal Tesla crash involving Autopilot.