Rules for autonomous cars advance faster than the vehicles themselves: UN

Fully autonomous cars are still years away from hitting the streets, but internationally agreed rules on their use could be ready by mid-2026, the United Nations has said.

Concerns about safety and the cost of developing next-level systems have slowed progress on autonomous vehicles, but work on regulation continues to advance, the UN said.

“While the hype may be slowly fading, the real serious work on regulation is moving forward,” UNECE agency Deputy Executive Secretary Dmitry Mariyasin told reporters.

Created in 1952, the World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations meets three times a year, bringing together countries, car manufacturers and technology giants. This week’s meeting in Geneva is the main annual session.

The forum takes place within the framework of UNECE, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, which defines the legal framework for land transport.

– Rules of the road –

Richard Damm, chair of the Working Group on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA), said new UN regulations for driver control assistance systems were adopted in February and would come into force in September.

Furthermore, “we aim to have globally harmonized regulation on Automated Driving Systems (ADS) ready by mid-2026,” he said.

Unlike some fields where regulation comes long after the launch of new technologies, GRVA secretary François Guichard said establishing the rules first was in line with previous advances in motorsport.

He said regulations for electric vehicles were ready before they hit the market, and the framework is also in place for hydrogen vehicles should the industry move towards mass production.

– Five levels –

There are five levels of automation, with lower levels becoming commonplace.

At Level 2, drivers are expected to remain alert to traffic.

At Level 3, the driver is not driving when the automated systems are activated, but can intervene at any time and must take control at the system’s request.

At Level 4, the driver does not need to be prepared to intervene quickly, at least in limited areas, while Level 5 vehicles are fully autonomous.

Guichard said Level 1 and 2 technology was probably present in half of all new vehicles; “Level 3 is still rare and Level 4 does not exist for sale as a mass-production product,” he said.

Damm said systems at Levels 3 and 4 were “much more expensive,” so deeper driver assistance technology at Level 2 will likely come first, as a bridge to the next levels.

– Road safety –

“Is there a future for self-driving cars? I can clearly answer with a ‘yes,'” Damm said.

“This technology will come and is partially on the way, even if it is not yet penetrating the mass market. There are still a few years before we can see it on the mass market, because we have to solve several problems.”

Public safety concerns remain the top priority in defining the regulatory framework.

There are approximately 1.2 million traffic deaths per year, with an additional 50 million people injured.

“We still don’t know whether autonomous vehicles will be more of a problem or more of a solution,” said Mariyasin.

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