The Office of Rail and Road has officially published its Safe AI Innovation Action Plan, which aims to set out how the regulator intends to enable the safe adoption of AI within UK rail, as well as England’s strategic road network.
One of the first actions set out in the plan is an intention to clarity both safety risks and regulatory expectations for AI use, which will be published by the end of September via the Digital Safety Strategy and Strategic Risk Chapter on health and safety risks arising from the use of digital systems.
The ORR’s use of AI is already currently embedded in some internal processes, with the regulator planning to explore how innovations may be built into the process of checking that trains and infrastructure can safely work together across the rail network (interoperability authorisations) later this year.
Work is also set to be carried out to build AI into the ORR’s analysis of consumer datasets in order to aid early detection and intervention of issues in order to better protect consumers.
Stephanie Tobyn, Director of Strategy, Policy and Regulation at ORR said:ORR’s action plan illustrates how we’re playing our part in enabling responsible adoption of AI with users at the heart of innovation.
We’re providing regulatory stability for industry in what we expect from them and in doing so also providing reassurance to users that within the industries we regulate AI can be utilised responsibly, transparently and safely.
Full details of the plan can be found online, here.
