Amsterdam, 15/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - There are currently six major obstacles that European Union member states will need to overcome if they are to help the expansion of connected and autonomous cars in Europe. Erik Jonnaert, the Secretary General of the European Automobile Association (ACEA) outlined these changes to European Transport Ministers during the informal meeting in Amsterdam on Thursday 14 April. He also said that they needed to resolve the question of the different systems responsible for managing private data.
During this meeting, the member states also made a commitment to promoting the expansion of the specific category of car by adopting the Declaration of Amsterdam (see EUROPE 11532). Mr Jonnaert said that there are now six major challenges the EU needs to meet: implementing specific rules on national and international road traffic levels; ensuring car certification; developing digital infrastructure; defining the regimes of responsibility; creating a framework for managing private data and ensuring security during data exchanges.
On the first point, Mr Jonnaert said that they should update the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, adopted in 1968. One source close to the dossier said that it is true that some of these aspects could now appear obsolete. Article 8 in this convention focusing on drivers on the roads, includes a whole section on drivers of vehicles drawn by animals.
According to Mr Jonnaert it is exactly this point that is creating a problem. The reason for this is that under the terms of this article, any driver can be master of their vehicle. Moreover, this will not always be the case in the context of autonomous or semiautonomous cars. In connection with the question of harmonising road safety standards, the Secretary General highlighted the need to set out European level safety rules on the distance that should be respected between vehicles.
With regard to the certification process, manufacturers believe it necessary to modify the protocols and regulatory framework as soon as possible. For example, autonomous steering systems are currently worked out at a maximum speed of 10 km an hour. European automobile manufacturers believe that this is quite clearly too low.
In the context of digital infrastructure, Mr Jonnaert highlighted the need to strengthen communication networks on cover and reliability rates. Currently, the European industry dialogue on automated and connected driving is being carried out on the initiative of the European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, Günther Oettinger.
Mr Oettinger has made a robust appeal for a mobile 5G network to be set up as soon as possible at a European level because it is necessary for facilitating communication between vehicles at a speed of milliseconds. The Hertzian wave band between five and nine GHz in the context of the C-ITS platform for intelligent transport must be reserved for these kinds of vehicles.
The regulatory framework that clearly defines responsibility systems adapted to these new generation vehicles is urgently needed, explained Mr Jonnaert. The question of liability will arise when an accident occurs involving an autonomous car. Manufacturers believe that responsibility cannot be attributed to the driver, "supposing that there is perhaps someone sitting behind a steering wheel".
The question of private data management will certainly create a debate. On this point, he indicated that the new general regulation on data protection has provided the EU with, "the most modern system in the world" and he welcomed this. He also indicated that the ACEA had adopted a raft of principles on data protection in relation to connected vehicles, which create the concept of "privacy by design" namely, taking into account issues relating to private life from the vehicle conceptualisation stage onwards.
The final point developed by the ACEA representative involves the question of data sharing. At the present time, many service providers want to develop new applications for drivers and vehicle users. In this connection, he highlighted the need to make data exchanges secure, so that manufacturers are not held responsible if an unexpected event occurs due to a dysfunctional exchange of data. In this context a new ISO standard for future vehicles is currently being developed and should be ready by the end of the year, he explained.
As part of the Declaration of Amsterdam, Transport Ministers called on the European Commission to put forward a strategy. The Commission will be drawing on the C-ITS platform, GEAR 2030 group (see EUROPE 11416) and the Roundtable on connected an autonomous vehicles, in view of developing its proposals. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)