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.
