Members of the European Parliament’s ‘transport’ committee and the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a Digital Age (AIDA) held discussions with experts on Monday 11 October about the impact of this technology on the transport sector.
“This is a necessary thought process. This technology is already very present. It represents opportunities in transport and, at the same time, the risks that we must assess”, said the Chair of the ‘transport’ committee, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France).
The experts emphasised that AI could only be used in the transport sector under certain conditions, such as the establishment of a real legal framework, the availability of a large amount of data, work being undertaken on vehicle capabilities and a harmonisation of rules at European level.
“In reality, the greatest risk would be an absence of policy. You therefore don’t want someone to do it on behalf of the EU”, summarised Nadina Iacob, a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies.
In terms of the MEPs, attention was focused on several aspects, such as security, financing, data sharing and environmental issues.
MEP Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA, Luxembourg) called for greater testing of autonomous vehicles “before they are put on the market”.
His counterpart, Kosma Złotowski, (ECR, Poland), also wondered about safety issues: “will it be possible for autonomous vehicles and those driven by humans to exist side-by-side?” For the moment, regarding this point, the experts mainly pointed to a lack of hindsight and extensive studies.
Finally, on the subject of funding, Jörgen Warborn (EPP, Sweden) insisted on the need for a “flexible” system in order to avoid start-ups having to “move elsewhere to continue their business”.
Projections – shared by some of the experts at the committee meeting on Monday – estimate that the market for autonomous and connected vehicles will be worth approximately €1.7 trillion by 2030. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)