Last modified on December 14, 2023

EU-Level

This section gives an overview of the regulatory framework applicable in the EU in terms of vehicles regulations and road safety directly referring to automated driving related subjects.

Relevant applicable regulations, but also new proposals, as well as other relevant documents like the guidelines published by different member states or other non-binding official documents.

Homologation Legislation

Type Approval Framework

The regulatory framework for the homologation of vehicles in the European Union sets its basis on the regulation (EU) 2018/858. This regulation on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, is applicable from September 2020 and repealed Directive 2007/46/EC. It defined a higher level of responsibility for the different stakeholders of the type approval process.

General Safety Regulation 2

Amending (EU) 2018/858 and regarding safety matters, regulation (EU) 2019/2144 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on type-approval requirements for motor vehicles and their trailers and systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, as regards their general safety and the protection of vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users defined a roadmap for the forthcoming years (starting July 2022) in safety features mandatory for motor vehicles and their trailers. Several safety systems were and are still being introduced as mandatory through this Regulation, and the entry into force of new regulations covering new technologies was foreseen.

Connected and Automated Driving (CAD) EU dedicated provisions

2022 has been a major step towards automated driving in the European Union. Entering into force on August 5th of 2022, Regulation (EU) 2022/1426 lays down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards uniform procedures and technical specifications for the type-approval of the automated driving system (ADS) of fully automated vehicles. It provides the guidelines for type-approving three use-cases-oriented systems:

  • Fully automated vehicles for the transport of passengers/goods within a predefined area (e.g. robotaxis).
  • “Hub to Hub”: Fully automated vehicles for the transport of passengers/goods in a predefined route.
  • “Valet parking”: Fully automated mode for parking in predefined installations.

Finally, in June 2022, Regulation (EU) 2022/2236 as regards the technical requirements for vehicles produced in unlimited series, vehicles produced in small series, fully automated vehicles produced in small series and special purpose vehicles, and as regards software update, was adopted. This Regulation opens the door to the approval, in limited series, of fully automated vehicles, with or without a seat for a human driver. The importance of this regulation lies in the fact that it introduces, for the first time, adapted technical requirements for systems other than the automated driving system, such as passive safety, emissions, general safety and others. In the scope of this regulation, three architectures of AV have been considered:

  • Dual mode vehicles: Manual driving mode + fully automated driving mode.
  • Fully automated vehicles of categories N1, N2, N3, M1, M2, M3 without driver seat, with occupants.
  • Fully automated vehicles of categories N1, N2 and N3 without driver seat and without occupants.

Cybersecurity & Software Updates

Special attention is being paid to the developments on Cybersecurity and OTA updates as those technologies are closely linked to Automated Driving. General Safety Regulation 2 (mentioned above) introduced the mandatory application of cybersecurity and software updates related regulations, as soon as they were adopted by the UNECE and entered into force.

The following Regulations were provided by the UNECE, directly tackling these topics:

  • UNECE Reg. 155 on uniform provisions concerning the approval of vehicles with regards to cyber security and cyber security management system.
  • UNECE Reg. 156 on uniform provisions concerning the approval of vehicles with regards to software update and software updates management system.

Other Legislations

Deployment of ITS:

Privacy & data protection:

  • Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

Other documents issued by EU members

See links here.

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