TechCrunch
The U.K.'s self-proclaimed "world-leading" regulations for self-driving cars are now official, after the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act received royal assent -- the final rubber stamp any legislation must go through before becoming enshrined in law. "While this doesn’t take away people’s ability to choose to drive themselves, our landmark legislation means self-driving vehicles can be rolled out on British roads as soon as 2026, in a real boost to both safety and our economy," Transport Secretary Mark Harper said in a statement. Today's news comes just a few weeks after U.K.-based Wayve raised more than $1 billion from high-profile companies, including SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft, to continue developing a self-learning software system for autonomous vehicles.