Question by András Gyürk (PPE)

Advances in technology mean that driverless vehicles are increasingly likely to be allowed onto public roads. What is the Commission’s current position on driverless cars? What action is it planning to take in this field in the future?

Answer given by Ms Bulc on behalf of the Commission (21.12.2017)

Driverless cars are still an emerging reality, in all vehicles today the driver is still responsible and expected to be in control of the vehicle at all times. Estimates on when truly driverless vehicles will enter the market vary from 2025 to far beyond. The steps to this driverless future were discussed in various stakeholder platforms, such as the C-ITS Platform and Gear 2030, and are supported by several pilot projects under H2020.

To help the introduction of driverless vehicles the Commission has adopted a Communication to make mass deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) a reality by 2019. To efficiently and safely manage complex traffic situations driverless vehicles will be expected to coordinate their manoeuvres with the help of advanced C-ITS complementing the vehicle sensors. Interoperability across the EU Member States of C-ITS is ensured by the C-ROADS platform.

C-ITS enables communication between vehicles and transport infrastructure. This will allow road authorities to communicate key attributes of roads that support automated driving. By making those attributes available in real-time we can add predictability on what to expect on the road ahead and help vehicles decide whether using automatic mode is appropriate.

The Commission plans a Delegated Act under priority area 4 - Linking the vehicle with the transport infrastructure - of the ITS directive to give legal certainty to all C-ITS deployment initiatives and address issues such as security, data protection and interoperability. Concerning the physical road infrastructure, no specific standardisation initiatives are planned yet as more research is needed to determine how this will or should support driverless vehicles.