Overview
- The Automated Vehicles (Marketing Restrictions) Regulations 2026, which were laid before Parliament on Tuesday, 7 July, reserve eight marketing terms for use only with vehicles authorised under the Automated Vehicles Act and come into force on 7 January 2027.
- The regulations list the restricted words as automated; automated driving; autonomous; autonomous driving; drive autonomously; drive itself; driverless; and self‑driving and cover grammatical variants of those terms.
- The words 'automated' and 'autonomous' are restricted only when they describe a vehicle as a whole or its overall driving capability, so common safety-system names such as autonomous emergency braking are unaffected.
- Enforcement sits with the Secretary of State and Department for Transport agencies, which will use civil powers under Schedule 5 of the Act, while serious breaches can lead to criminal prosecution with a maximum two‑year prison term, a fine, or both.
- Other emerging terms raised in consultation, like 'robotaxi' and 'AI driver', are not on the protected list but remain liable under the AV Act's broader 'confusion' offence, and the government says it will review terminology as trials and rollouts expand.