Car safety experts Thatcham Research described the focus on the driver's legal responsibilities as important, adding drivers need to be made aware they "must remain engaged" and be ready to resume driving "at any time".

Users of self-driving cars will be able to watch films on the motorway under planned changes to the Highway Code, although it will remain illegal to use mobile phones. The update, proposed by the Department for Transport (DfT), will allow those in the driver's seat to use a car's built-in screens to watch movies and TV programmes. The new rules also state that insurance companies will be financially liable, rather than individual motorists, for accidents in self-driving cars. However, those behind the wheel must be ready to resume control of the vehicle when they are prompted – such as when they approach motorway exits. These measures were described as an interim measure by the government to support the early deployment of self-driving vehicles.

Mercedes has announced that it will take legal responsibility for any crashes that occur while its self-driving systems are engaged. The company is currently in the process of deploying "Drive Pilot" technology for its new S-Class and EQS saloon models, which is "Level 3" for autonomy on a six-tier system devised by Society of Automotive Engineers, ranging from Level 0 (no automated driver assistance) to Level 5 (the car drives itself everywhere without any input from the vehicle occupants). Level 3 autonomy means that drivers may take their hands off the wheel and undertake other tasks, such as reading a book, while the car assumes full control of all driving functions. However, this is only in specific conditions, such as in low-speed traffic on motorways, and the person in the driver's seat must be able to retake control within a few seconds of an alert from the car. This is a big leap from Level 2 autonomy, which requires hands-on-wheel supervision from the driver at all times, and which is currently commonplace on new cars in the form of adaptive cruise control and automated lane-keeping. Some cars from the likes of Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Genesis and Tesla have such advanced systems that they are considered somewhere between Levels 2 and 3 -- dubbed by experts as Level 2 .

Robotic vehicles have been used in dangerous environments for decades, from decommissioning the Fukushima nuclear power plant or inspecting underwater energy infrastructure in the North Sea. More recently, autonomous vehicles from boats to grocery delivery carts have made the gentle transition from research centres into the real world with very few hiccups. Yet the promised arrival of self-driving cars has not progressed beyond the testing stage. And in one test drive of an Uber self-driving car in 2018, a pedestrian was killed by the vehicle. Although these accidents happen every day when humans are behind the wheel, the public holds driverless cars to far higher safety standards, interpreting one-off accidents as proof that these vehicles are too unsafe to unleash on public roads.

New rules to let self-driving cars break the speed limit or mount kerbs to avoid accidents are being drawn up in a'digital Highway Code'. And in a radical legal move, it could be the car maker punished if a driverless car speeds without justification or causes a fatal accident. One key question in an official review launched yesterday is whether automated vehicles should, like human drivers, be allowed to break the rules for a greater good. Should they be programmed to mount the kerb to avoid a child in the road, let an ambulance go past, or if two cars are stuck in a narrow street? New rules to let self-driving cars break the speed limit or mount kerbs to avoid accidents are being drawn up in a'digital Highway Code'.

This month, Germany's transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, proposed a bill to provide the first legal framework for autonomous vehicles. It would govern how such cars perform in collisions where lives might be lost. The laws attempt to deal with what some call the "death valley" of autonomous vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future. Dobrindt wants three things: that a car always opts for property damage over personal injury; that it never distinguishes between humans based on categories such as age or race; and that if a human removes his or her hands from the steering wheel – to check email, say – the car's manufacturer is liable if there is a collision. "The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving," says Dobrindt.

And there were some hopes from motorists that machines might actually improve manners. Of the drivers surveyed, 59 per cent hoped tailgating would become a thing of the past once driverless cars were introduced, while two in five said they would hope it would spell the end of drivers cutting each other up and failing to indicate at junctions. But despite the positive impact to remove poor driving habits from the road, just 59 per cent think their car insurance premiums will fall as a result of more driverless cars coming onto the road. Rod Jones, insurance expert at uSwitch.com said: 'The unwritten rules of the road are all part of the polite British driving experience but could be a huge blind spot for autonomous vehicles. 'Flashing your lights to let someone out of a junction may seem obvious, but these courteous gestures can vary from situation to situation and add the human touch to motoring. 'The Highway Code was created to promote safer driving, but over the years we have developed our own human driving code. 'It is clear that many drivers don't expect driverless cars to understand our driving habits, which could, certainly to begin with, make it difficult for humans and robots to drive side by side. 'For British drivers to feel safe on the roads, they need to be confident about how a driverless car will react in any given situation. Clarifying the rules in the Highway Code is an important step towards this.'