By Eric Blusseau, Legal expert DVN
For several years, the automotive industry has worked on driver assistance systems which perform some driving tasks (eg: Adaptive Cruise control system, lane keeping assist). As research continues, the performance of driver assistance systems is increasingly advanced and can partially or completely replace the human driver. In such conditions, the vehicle can complete travel autonomously not requiring driver oversight.
WP29 at UNECE decided to create a new working party, the target of which is to define the specific regulations for this kind of vehicles (GRVA: Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles). The first session occurred in Geneva in 2018.
In Parallel, GRE (Working Party on Lighting and Light-Signaling) addressed the question of a specific need of Autonomous vehicle marker lamp.
The lighting signaling Experts of GRE worked on this topic and were wondering about the safe interaction between an Autonomous vehicle and the other road users. GTB submitted two informal documents addressing these questions to GRE Experts during the 79th session in April 2018. GRE during the following session in October 2018, concluded that a new task Force should be created to address this topic. This new task force was created (TF AVSR: Autonomous Vehicles Signaling Requirements). WP 29 should manage the relationship between GRVA and GRE.
Please find herewith bellow the table which describes the more relevant steps of the actions.
Since June 2022, the main target of the Task Force TF-AVSR has been to fit the Regulation R48 (Installation ) with the vehicles equipped with an Automated Driving System.
For that purpose, new definitions were introduced in R48: Dynamic Driving Task (DDT), Automated Driving System (ADS), Driver, Operational Design Domain (ODD),etc. Some definitions were modified to consider the vehicle driven by an Automated Driving System: Switch On/Off,…
Some general specific requirements were added in the case of a vehicle equipped with an ADS. The tests procedure for approval of the vehicle were modified accordingly.
You can find the current document which will be reviewed during the up-coming meeting of TF-AVSR on March 11th on the UNECE Website here , document: AVSR-21-02_Rev.2 – (AVSR) Proposal to amend UN-R48 (based on AVSR-20-02_Rev.1) after AVSR-22.docx. After the next meeting, an informal document should be submitted to GRE during the 92nd session as an informal document.
The latest draft technical specifications for ADS marker lamps were submitted by TF-AVSR during the 91st GRE Session. (informal GRE91-12 available here).
The main proposed characteristics are:
GRE Supports the work and shall be addressed during the upcoming session in April 2025.
However, There is no agreement between the CPs on the relevance of such a signal for autonomous vehicles:
- France is in favour of such a signal to clearly identify autonomous vehicles in autonomous state.
- Japan is in favour of having an external light signal and also of the policy proposed by GRVA. Japan believes that further discussion is needed on detailed regulatory requirements.
- UK is not in favour of such a signal and wants to come to a common understanding as expressed by GRVA. UK clearly wants to have a provision to ban such signals on their roads
- Korea is recently doing a study if and how to implement an ADS signal, however, no specifications available yet.
- Australia’s general view is that, in the initial stages of deployment and while there is a mixed fleet of ADS and Non-ADS vehicles, there may be benefit in communicating to Other Road Users that a vehicle’s ADS is operating.
- China does allow such a signal; however, it is yet not required by GB-standards and defined inside the new, draft GB standard for light-signalling devices
- SAE has established a recommended practice (SAE J3134) about ADS marker lamps.
This should lead to lengthy discussions during the next GRE sessions before an agreement can be reached. This topic is at the agenda of the upcoming GRE Session in April 2025. (See point 13-a of the agenda here)
In a nutshell, we try to resume all the discussion from 7 years about AD-Signaling lamp. Different groups are involved in this topic that is certainly adding complexity for final decision
