Legal and Safety Aspects of the Application of Automated and Autonomous Vehicles in the Republic of Croatia

In its draft proposal for the Road Transport Act, the Croatian government referred to European Union Directive 2022/738, which concerns the use of hired vehicles for goods transport, rather than the pertinent European Union regulations on automated and autonomous vehicles, specifically Regulation 2019/2144 and Implementing Regulation 2022/1426. This oversight highlights Croatia’s lack of preparedness to integrate highly automated and autonomous vehicles, which are crucial for safety and environmental performance as per European Union standards. This paper aims to clarify the safety and legal recommendations for the trafficking of these vehicles in Croatia. Level 2 and Level 3 automated vehicles, present in smaller numbers in road traffic in Croatia, were compared from the perspective of the lack of driving tasks and its impact on driver safety. The stages of road liability for traffic accidents were also investigated, with recommendations of strict (default) liability of manufacturers for fully autonomous vehicles as well as presumed liability of all road traffic participants for highly automated vehicles. The safety and traffic benefits of possible infrastructure upgrades for highly automated and fully autonomous vehicles were discussed, mostly in the segment of dedicated lines.