Russia May Adopt Law on Self-Driving Cars in Autumn 2026

A bill "On Highly Automated Vehicles," regulating the use of self-driving trucks and passenger cars, may be adopted during the autumn session of the State Duma. This was announced at the Eastern Economic Forum by Valery Goryukhanov, a member of the State Duma Committee on Transport.

According to the deputy, the adoption of the law will expand the use of autonomous vehicles in Russia. He also noted that this could become the world's first practice of state regulation of autonomous vehicle movement between regions. Currently, such technologies are actively developing in China and some other countries, but there is no common regulatory framework at the interregional level anywhere yet.

The bill, developed by the Ministry of Transport, proposes a clear distribution of liability in the event of a traffic accident involving a self-driving car. The manufacturer will be held responsible if the accident was caused by a failure in the automated driving system.

The owner bears liability in case of violation of operating rules — for example, using the vehicle outside the prescribed conditions or making unauthorized modifications to the design. A service center is responsible for poor-quality repairs, and a remote support operator — for failure to perform their duties.

The document also introduces mandatory identification marking for autonomous vehicles while driving in self-driving mode and prohibits their operation without being connected to a remote support service to respond to emergency situations. Regional authorities, as well as officers of the Federal Protective Service (FSO) and the Federal Security Service (FSB), will be able to impose restrictions on the movement of self-driving vehicles, which will be indicated by road signs or published in a special information system.