On Wednesday 29 August, MEPs at the European Parliament's transport committee gave a warm welcome to the draft initiative report drafted by Wim Van de Camp (EPP, Netherlands) on autonomous vehicles.
It should be recalled that this draft text seeks to prepare the European Union and its member states for the challenges created by the expansion in connected and autonomous mobility (see EUROPE 12073).
Mr Van de Camp was naturally the first interlocutor to speak during this examination of his draft initiative report. The Dutch MEP was keen to highlight “the enormous competition” the European Union had to face and referred to the work undertaken in the US and China in this connection. Although he now considers it is up to the EU member states to decide whether they should take action together or separately for developing autonomous mobility, Mr Van de Camp would also like the Commission to play “a key role” in this area. The MEP also highlighted the difficulties relating to safety and responsibility, the key factors in this domain.
The draft report received a positive response from the MEPs, who made a number of substantial contributions with regard to the subject. István Ujhelyi (S&D, Hungary) welcome the “totally positive approach” by Mr Van de Camp and congratulated the latter for an “excellent draft report”. Kosma Złotowski (ECR, Poland) also asserted that he shared several of the rapporteur's reflections.
MEPs were also keen to highlight the points they consider crucial with regard to the development of autonomous mobility. Matthijs Van Miltenburg (ALDE, Netherlands) stated that he wanted to expand the text's scope in order to include cyber security related questions and insisted on the importance of the interoperability of different technological systems and innovation. Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France) also highlighted the importance of safety, particularly with regard to drones and regulating the use of data and environmental protection.
Mr Ujhelyi also affirmed that five MEPs had sent the Commission a letter in which it called on the latter to put forward legislative proposals on autonomous mobility but also indicated that it had not received any idea of a schedule from the Commission in this regard. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)