European Commission outlines vision on automated mobility

The European Commission has announced a set of measures aimed at promoting ‘safe, clean and connected mobility’ and allowing ‘all Europeans to benefit from safer traffic, less polluting vehicles and more advanced technological solutions, while supporting the competitiveness of the EU industry’. Among them is a communication entitled ‘On the road to automated mobility: An EU strategy for mobility of the future’, which outlines a set of actions aimed at achieving the EU’s ambition of becoming ‘a world leader in the deployment of connected and automated mobility’. The Commission notes that current EU legislation is largely suitable to allow automated and connected vehicles to be put on the market, but that new regulatory changes would be needed to create a ‘harmonised, complete and future-proof framework for automation’. Other critical areas of focus outlined in the communication include: (a) allocating investments in technologies and infrastructure for automated mobility; (b) ensuring an internal market for the safe take-up of automated mobility (by elaborating guidelines for a harmonised approach to automated vehicle safety assessments, for example); (c) proposing new safety features for automated vehicles (by amending current regulations and directives on motor vehicle and road infrastructure safety); (d) addressing liability issues, ensuring cybersecurity, data protection and data access; (e) and exploring the implications of automated mobility on society and the economy (with a view to determining whether regulatory measures are needed to address the possible negative impacts).