Self-driving Vehicle Pilot Scheme: Information for First Responders
Summary
The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and Department for Transport published guidance for first responders on interacting with self-driving vehicles under an upcoming pilot scheme. From spring 2026, companies can apply to run commercial self-driving vehicle services without safety drivers on roads in England, Scotland and Wales. The guidance helps blue light services prepare for deployment of these vehicles.
What changed
The guidance provides information for first responders (blue light services) on how to interact with self-driving vehicles participating in the upcoming commercial pilot scheme. It covers procedures for emergency situations involving autonomous vehicles without safety drivers. The document is part of broader guidance supporting the application process and outlining expectations for pilot deployments.
Affected parties including emergency services, transport operators, and local authorities should review this guidance to prepare for the introduction of commercial self-driving vehicle services. While the guidance is informational rather than prescriptive, first responder agencies should incorporate these procedures into their operational training and incident response protocols ahead of the spring 2026 application opening.
What to do next
- Review guidance on interacting with self-driving vehicles
- Prepare operational procedures for responding to autonomous vehicle incidents
Archived snapshot
Apr 16, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
Guidance
Self-driving vehicle pilot scheme: information for first responders
Dealing with vehicles taking part in the self-driving vehicle pilot scheme as a first responder.
From: Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and Department for Transport Published 31 March 2026 Get emails about this page
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Self-driving vehicle pilot scheme: information for first responders
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Details
From spring 2026 companies can apply to run commercial services using self-driving vehicles without a safety driver on roads in England, Scotland and Wales.
This guidance is to help first responders (blue light services) to prepare for the deployment of vehicles under this pilot scheme.
It sits alongside broader guidance to:
- assist the application process
- outline the expectations and requirements of pilot deployments for potential applicants
Published 31 March 2026 Get emails about this page Print this page
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