Minister Says Hands on the Wheel for Now

The Isle of Man isn’t quite ready to hand over the keys just yet.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall told the House of Keys this week that there’s ‘no rush’ to introduce legislation for autonomous vehicles, even as the UK pushes ahead with plans to get self-driving cars on its roads soon.

According to the BBC, driverless cars could appear on UK roads as early as this year, with fully autonomous commercial services potentially starting as early as September 2026, targeting a ‘£42 billion industry by 2035’.

The UK government has passed the ‘Automated Vehicles Act’, allowing driverless taxis in cities like London, with companies like Uber and Wayve conducting tests and partnerships

Mr Crookall confirmed that a code of practice already exists for testing autonomous vehicles on the island, but similar legislation is ‘not considered a priority at this time’.

He added that the department would ‘continue to monitor progress of the implementation programme in the UK.’

Concerns were raised by Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse, who pointed out that the UK appeared to be ‘a step ahead of us in this area’ and asked whether the DoI had spoken to Enterprise about potential economic opportunities.

‘As far as I know at the moment, there hasn’t been,’ replied Mr Crookall.

Pressed on whether the UK’s progress worried him, the minister was refreshingly frank: ‘I don’t think there’s any rush to do this at all. We’ve got other things that are much needing of our attention, rather than this.’

Mr Moorhouse also asked what the legislative position would be if a self-driving car arrived on the Island by ferry. The minister admitted he would need to ‘check that one out.’