Quick legal advice
Automaker Lucid and ride-hailing platform Bolt plan to deploy at least 25,000 fully autonomous vehicles in European cities. The planned robotaxis are expected to operate at SAE Level 4 autonomy, meaning they will drive under defined conditions without human intervention. However, further changes to the legal framework will be necessary for their potential deployment in the Czech Republic.
Starting in January 2026, Czech law will permit the operation of vehicles with SAE Level 3 conditional automation. Under specified conditions, the vehicle may drive itself, but a driver must still be present in the vehicle and ready to take control if prompted by the control system. The law even defines the driver of an automated vehicle as the person sitting in the driver’s seat. Conventional SAE Level 4 robotaxis, which would transport passengers without a driver, are therefore not yet covered by the current Czech regulations. However, the Ministry of Transport has already stated that it is preparing to extend the rules to include vehicles of this level as well.
Meanwhile, European regulations are a step ahead. The EU already allows type approval of fully automated vehicles for certain uses and further updated its technical rules in March 2026. In June, the UNECE also adopted the first global framework for the approval of fully autonomous driving systems. However, type approval alone does not mean that a robotaxi can automatically operate in every member state—individual countries must have corresponding traffic regulations and have resolved issues of liability and oversight.
For Czech law, the next step will primarily involve regulating the operation of vehicles in which no human is ready to take over control. The current system is based precisely on the transfer of control between the vehicle and the driver. For a true robotaxi, it will be necessary to precisely define, among other things, the liability of the operator, the manufacturer, or any remote operator. Bolt and Lucid have not yet announced specific European cities or a timeline for deploying the entire fleet.
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