Clarity in motion: shaping the future of self-driving language

The government has launched a public consultation to determine which words, phrases, and symbols should be legally prohibited from use in relation to automated vehicles. In this article we outline what this means for businesses in the mobility sector – and why it’s important that they have their say.

Introduction

The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 (the “2024 Act”), which received Royal Assent in May 2024, marks a pivotal moment in the UK’s journey towards a safe and regulated future for self-driving technology. Among its key provisions is a new power granted to the Secretary of State for Transport to protect specific marketing terms, ensuring that only vehicles officially authorised as self-driving can be marketed as such.

This legislative step is not semantics. It’s about safeguarding public trust, preventing confusion, and ensuring that innovation in the automated vehicle sector proceeds responsibly.

Protected marketing terms: drawing the line between assistance and autonomy

At its core, the 2024 Act introduces a formal authorisation process to determine whether a vehicle can truly operate without human control or oversight. Only vehicles that pass this process can be legally described as “self-driving” or “driverless”.

To enforce this, the Act introduces two new offences:

• Protected Terms Offence: this offence prohibits the use of specific marketing terms unless the vehicle has been authorised as automated. The exact list of protected terms will be set out in secondary legislation (a draft of which is provided alongside the consultation)
• Confusion Offence: this broader offence applies to any commercial communication likely to mislead consumers into thinking a vehicle can drive itself when it cannot

Together, these provisions aim to draw a clear legal line between driver assistance and true automation – a distinction that is often blurred in marketing materials.

The consultation: shaping the language of automation

On 10 June 2025, the government launched a public consultation to determine which words, phrases, and symbols should be legally prohibited from use unless a vehicle has been authorised. The current proposed list of protected terms includes:

• automated (when referring to a vehicle as a whole)
• automated driving
• automated vehicle
• autonomous (when referring to a vehicle as a whole)
• autonomous driving / driving autonomously
• drive autonomously
• drives itself
• driverless
• self-driving / driving itself
• travel autonomously

If adopted, these terms will be legally reserved for vehicles that have only passed the authorisation process, helping to prevent misleading marketing and protect consumers from overestimating what a vehicle can do.

What this means for businesses

For businesses currently using these terms – or planning to – this is a clear call to action: now is the time to review your marketing strategies and materials. Using protected terms without proper authorisation could expose your organisation to enforcement action, reputational harm, and potential legal liability.

Take proactive steps:

• brief your engineering, product and marketing teams now so they are aware of the proposed prohibitions
• introduce sign off processes and involve legal at an early stage of the product and marketing journey
• ensure your messaging aligns with the evolving regulatory landscape to avoid wasting time and cost adopting inappropriate terminology and communications strategies

Staying ahead of these changes isn’t just about compliance – it’s about maintaining trust and credibility and avoiding (potentially criminal) sanctions.

Have your say

The consultation is open until 1 September 2025, and your voice matters. Whether you're a manufacturer, supplier, technology provider, consumer advocate, or industry stakeholder, this is your opportunity to shape how the UK defines and protects the language of automation.

You can submit your response in several ways, as outlined on the Gov.uk website.