The Future of Mobility: Self-Driving Cars and Legislation

13/10/2023

With the rise of self-driving vehicles and advanced automation in the automotive world, it is high time to adapt the legal and regulatory frameworks to the rapidly changing technology. Last week was the 17th meeting of the Working Party on Automated and Connected Vehicles (GRVA), a crucial branch of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

Autonomous vehicles, equipped with advanced technology, completely challenge the traditional concept of 'the driver'.  The human driver has a diminishing role in this, but how far does this role ultimately go?

Currently, we are at a crossroads of tradition and innovation and face the challenge of updating traffic legislation to facilitate the revolution of autonomous driving but also implement it safely. New regulations should address the nuances of autonomous systems, defining their roles, responsibilities and interactions with other road users.

And is the EU lagging behind? In the U.S., there's just a lot of freedom. Everything there is legal by default until a precedent takes place and serves as a trigger for control by government agencies and possibly new legislation. Here everything is illegal by default and the legislation must be in place before the product is on the market.  This ensures that better and faster adjustments to systems can take place in the US. Furthermore, the key to improving and developing this technology is data. The more, the better, and guess which company has the advantage in this regard...

These adjustments and adjustments in legislation are painfully slow. In addition, it is practically impossible to make definitive legislation for technology that is developing at an incredible speed.

Read more about this legislation in the article via this link: https://www.mistergreen.nl/bespreking-wetgeving-self-driving