Problematic Issues of Legalisation of Concepts Used for the Purpose of Legal Regulation of Transport Relationships Involving Self-Driving Cars

The needs for innovative development of the transport system, which is not only the most important, but also an indispensable condition for implementation of the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030 with a forecast until 2035, determine the necessity for a important change in fundamental approaches to building a system of legal support for organisation of road traffic, historically based on the postulate of obligation the driver to ensure constant control over the traffic situation for the entire period of the vehicle’s movement. In this situation, the problem of legal regulation of admission to operation and subsequent operation of vehicles equipped with an automated driving system that does not provide for participation of the driver in the dynamic control of the car acquires special theoretical and practical significance.The objective of the study, some of the results of which are suggested in the article, was a critical comprehension of the problems of legislative environment referring to the use of cars with an automated driving system, those problems being associated with ambiguities and gaps in the legislation in terms of codifying the basic terms and definitions.The tools of formal dogmatic analysis were used to investigate the problematic issues of legalising the concept of «automated driving system», which is the most important, basic category in the system of legal regulation of the relations under study.On this basis, the application of methods of systemic legal analysis contributed to identification of possible options for eliminating the identified gaps and contradictions in legislation, to formulate author’s definitions and to suggest guidelines for building an ordered system of legal terms to be entrenched in legal acts regulating the use of highly automated vehicles.The implementation of the proposals formulated by the author can contribute to the improvement of the system of legal regulation of relations related to the use of highly automated vehicles.