What the SMMT's Guiding Principles say about marketing automated and assisted driving in the UK

The words used to sell automated and assisted driving features are the subject of dedicated guidance in the UK. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has published a set of Guiding Principles for automated vehicle marketing on its Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) page, approved by the Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles and the Committee of Advertising Practice and intended, in its own words, to guide members as they bring this technology to forecourts.

The page does not carry a publication date, so what follows is what the SMMT page said when it was read in September 2026; the wording and scope can change. For buyers, the principles are useful less as a rulebook to memorise and more as a checklist for reading any brochure, advert or in-car screen label with a clearer eye.

The automated-assisted line the principles draw

The principles separate automated driving from assisted driving. In the SMMT's published text, an automated driving feature must be described clearly enough not to mislead, including the circumstances in which it can function, and clearly enough that it is distinguished from an assisted driving feature. Where both kinds of feature are described, they must be clearly distinguished from each other.

The reverse direction is covered too. An assisted driving feature should not be described in a way that could convey the impression that it is an automated driving feature, and the name of either kind of feature must not mislead by conveying that it is the other. The principles acknowledge that names alone may not be enough: ancillary words may be necessary to avoid confusion, for example making it clear for an assisted driving feature that the driver must be in control at all times.

Who approves and supports the principles

The SMMT names two approving bodies: the Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles and the Committee of Advertising Practice. The same page describes a broader communications effort, a cross-sector toolkit for communications relating to automated vehicles called the AV DRiVE Self Driving Vehicle Communications Toolkit, which the SMMT says is backed by insurers, government departments and charities.

The institutional setting matters for readers weighing the principles' weight. The SMMT is the trade body for the UK motor industry, and its page places the guidance inside a wider UK CAM programme, noting government-industry partnership in testing and trialling since early 2015 and describing Britain as one of a very small number of countries with the legislation needed to deploy automated vehicles.

The industry's own numbers for the technology

The page carries forecasts that belong to the SMMT and should be read as its claims, not as settled projections. By 2040, the SMMT says Connected and Automated Mobility could deliver up to £66 billion in economic benefits, create around 342,000 additional jobs, of which more than 12,000 would be in automotive manufacturing, save 3,900 lives and prevent 60,000 serious accidents over the same period. These are UK-market figures attributed to the industry body on that page.

Why the wording matters at the point of sale

The SMMT frames its guidance around a single consumer-protection idea: that manufacturers market responsibly and accurately so drivers understand what their vehicle is capable of and where their responsibilities lie. The practical difference the principles encode is that an automated feature carries defined circumstances in which it can function, while an assisted feature leaves the driver in control at all times. On the principles' terms, a name or advert that blurs that line could mislead.

For a UK buyer checking a specific model, the practical route is to read the feature's own description against the principles: does the material state the circumstances in which an automated feature functions, does it keep automated and assisted features clearly separate, and does an assisted feature's name avoid implying automation? The SMMT page and the AV DRiVE toolkit are public, so both the principles and any claim you are comparing them against can be checked directly.