U.K. Moves to Double Public Charging Ports, Insure Self-Driving Cars

This week Britain’s House of Commons introduced a bill that would significantly increase the number of chargers for electric vehicles and require insurance companies to cover vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities.

The Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill, which was introduced by transportation minister John Hayes, includes a £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) budget for future EV and autonomous vehicle projects.

The bill calls for EV chargers at all motorway fuel and food complexes along the country’s highways as well as large fuel stations—and some street-side units—in urban and rural areas. If approved, the legislation is expected to nearly double the U.K.’s public recharging infrastructure, which currently has more than 11,500 units. There are 8,500 fuel stations in the country.

Insurance providers, meanwhile, would be liable for any damage sustained while and insured vehicle is operating autonomously. But owners would be liable for accidents if they have modified a self-driving car’s software or fail to install key updates. They also would be on the hook for accidents in uninsured vehicles.

Previous reports estimate there are more than 100,000 EVs on the road in the U.K. This compares with fewer than 2,000 five years ago.