BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 3. The rules and obligations governing the activities of autonomous vehicle operators have been defined in Azerbaijan.
This is reflected in a law introducing amendments to several legislative acts approved by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. The document text was published on his official website.
According to the law, individuals and legal entities will be issued operator certificates valid for 5 years to conduct autonomous vehicle operator activities.
A state duty of 20 manat ($11.76) will be charged for issuing an operator activity certificate.
Remote control centers will be established, and data generated during vehicle operation will be transmitted to the state information system in real time.
The information transmitted to the state system will be recorded and must be stored and protected by operators for six months.
The amendments also introduce into the legislation the concepts of "autonomous vehicle," "operator," and "remote control center" to regulate the legal framework for autonomous transport across the commercial shipping, aviation, railway, metro, tram, and road transport sectors.
In addition, the law establishes the definitions of highly automated and fully automated driving levels.
It also defines the concepts of an autonomous vehicle, its operator, a remote control center, and an automated driving system, sets the requirements applicable to them, and outlines the responsibilities of both the operator and the vehicle owner.
The law specifies that an autonomous vehicle may be operated only after state registration and only within areas designated by the authorized government agencies.
Furthermore, a legal entity or an individual may operate as an autonomous vehicle operator only after obtaining the required certificate. Operators will be required to monitor the performance of the automated driving system during operation, intervene promptly if circumstances threatening safe operation arise, ensure the storage and protection of operational data, and immediately notify the relevant government authorities in the event of an accident, crash, or other incident.
The amendments also provide for the assessment of the effectiveness of automated driving systems for autonomous vehicles within a regulatory testing environment. In addition, they establish the liability of the vehicle owner or, where acting as the operator, the vehicle user for damage caused during the vehicle's operation.
