Closed petition: Require that driverless cars avoid harming hedgehogs

Closed on 7 October 2025

Driverless cars may or may not become a regular vehicle on our roads.

We want the Government to require manufacturers who plan to sell driverless cars in Britain, to take measures to avoid harm to Hedgehogs.

This could include building into the algorithm specific features that will detect hedgehogs and avoid harming them.

Currently hedgehogs are killed in large numbers by cars. Hedgehogs are considered a near threatened species in Britain (IUCN red list). We think that if the Government commits at this early stage to insist that manufacturers put hedgehog protection measures into their driverless car algorithms, it could help save this much loved native species and would entail no cost to the government.