The UK department for transport has updated its code of practice for trials of autonomous vehicles on British roads to potentially enable use of safety drivers not inside the vehicle but supervising and operating cars by remote control.

The updated requirements, published by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, also set out the need for organisations carrying out tests to undertake risk assessments and publish safety information and trial performance reports.

Speeding remains a significant problem in many European countries according to new research published today by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) ahead of an important vote in the European Parliament on Thursday on future mandatory in-vehicle safety technologies.

The researchers looked at the numbers of vehicles found to be driving above the speed limit on different road types in the countries that were able to provide such data.

The app-based taxi service Uber will require its younger drivers to undertake mandatory safety training with Safe Traffic Netherlands, a road safety NGO, following a series of deaths where Uber drivers were involved.

Four deaths involving the company’s vehicles occurred in a six-week period, prompting urgent discussions with the company.

KFV, ETSC’s Austrian member, is calling for the doubling of penalties for traffic offences where children are involved and a default 30 km/h speed limit in cities as part of a range of recommendations to better protect children.

Eight children (up to the age of 14) die on Austrian roads every year, on average, while around 300 are seriously injured, according to KFV analysis of data from 2013 to 2017. The number of collisions involving children has not decreased for five years.