Traffic Technology TodayTraffic Technology Today
  • News
    • A-D
      • Appointments & Staffing
      • Asset Management
      • Autonomous Vehicles & ADAS
      • Awards
      • Cloud Computing
      • Congestion Reduction
      • Connected Vehicles
      • Covid-19
      • Cybersecurity
      • Data & Modeling
      • Deals, Acquisitions & Mergers
    • E-J
      • Electric vehicles & infrastructure
      • Emissions & Low Emission Zones
      • Enforcement
      • Event News
      • Funding
      • Incident Detection
      • Infrastructure
      • Intersections & Traffic Signals
      • ITS
    • K-S
      • Legal / Government Regulation
      • Machine Vision / ALPR
      • Mapping
      • Mobility as a Service
      • Multimodality & Micromobility
      • Planning, Testing, R&D
      • Public transit
      • Safety
      • Smart Cities
      • Smart Parking
    • T-Z
      • Tolling
      • Traffic counting & categorization
      • Traffic Management
      • Traveler Information Systems
      • Tunnels & Bridges
      • Variable Message Signs
      • Vulnerable Road Users
      • Weather systems
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
  • Online Magazines
    • September 2023
    • May 2023
    • March 2023
    • Nov/Dec 2022
    • September 2022
    • Archive Issues
    • Subscribe Free!
    • > Tolltrans
  • Videos
  • Audio
    • The Transportation Podcast
    • Additional Audio
  • Events
  • Webinars
  • Technology Profiles
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
Subscribe >
Traffic Technology TodayTraffic Technology Today
  • News
      • Appointments & Staffing
      • Asset Management
      • Autonomous Vehicles & ADAS
      • Awards
      • Cloud Computing
      • Congestion Reduction
      • Connected Vehicles
      • Covid-19
      • Cybersecurity
      • Data & Modeling
      • Deals, Acquisitions & Mergers
      • Electric vehicles & infrastructure
      • Emissions & Low Emission Zones
      • Enforcement
      • Event News
      • Funding
      • Incident Detection
      • Infrastructure
      • Intersections & Traffic Signals
      • ITS
      • Legal / Government Regulation
      • Machine Vision / ALPR
      • Mapping
      • Mobility as a Service
      • Multimodality & Micromobility
      • Planning, Testing, R&D
      • Public transit
      • Safety
      • Smart Cities
      • Smart Parking
      • Tolling
      • Traffic counting & categorization
      • Traffic Management
      • Traveler Information Systems
      • Tunnels & Bridges
      • Variable Message Signs
      • Vulnerable Road Users
      • Weather systems
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
  • Online Magazines
    1. September 2023
    2. May 2023
    3. March 2023
    4. Nov/Dec 2022
    5. September 2022
    6. Archive Issues
    7. Subscribe Free!
    8. > Tolltrans
    Featured
    September 15, 2023

    In this Issue – September 2023

    Online Magazines By Tom Stone
    Recent

    In this Issue – September 2023

    September 15, 2023

    In this Issue – May 2023

    May 4, 2023

    In this Issue – March 2023

    March 20, 2023
  • Videos
  • Audio
    • The Transportation Podcast
    • Additional Audio
  • Events
  • Webinars
  • Technology Profiles
LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
Traffic Technology TodayTraffic Technology Today
Autonomous Vehicles & ADAS

European Transport Safety Council stresses importance of EU crash investigation authority

Lauren DysonBy Lauren DysonDecember 17, 20213 Mins Read
Share LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email

The European Transport Safety Council is repeating its call for an EU road collision investigation authority that would conduct forensic analysis of crashes involving automated vehicles on EU roads.

The call follows the announcement by Mercedes-Benz concerning the launch of ‘Drive Pilot’, a system that allows for hands-off automated driving in traffic at speeds up to 60 km/h on German motorways. This is the first approval of a Level 3 automated driving system for use in Europe. Such systems can drive without driver supervision under certain circumstances.

International technical and safety standards for such systems were approved by the UN agency UNECE last year. Changes to national German road rules to permit use of such systems under certain conditions were passed back in 2017.  But the system is not yet approved for use across the EU, and several EU Member States have yet to make the necessary changes to road rules that would permit driving hands-free.

“As the market for vehicles equipped with Level 3 systems will quickly increase in the coming years, we urgently need a guarantee that crashes where a driving system was in charge of the vehicle are investigated and the results made public,” says Frank Mütze, automation specialist at ETSC. “We also see substantial pressure at the UNECE to increase the permitted operating speed of such systems, and to allow for automated lane changes – factors that would dramatically increase the potential risks. It would be irresponsible for the EU and Member States to allow riskier systems, without a system of robust oversight and investigation when things go wrong. The fact is that today, we have no data on the number of crashes that occur when assisted driving systems were active. This situation cannot continue now that we have systems coming on to the market that are responsible for driving the vehicle.”

ETSC is calling for:

  1. An EU agency to oversee or conduct investigations into crashes involving automated systems and to publish all findings in order to help prevent future collisions;
  2. Mandatory reporting to the EU agency by manufacturers of all collisions involving active automated systems on public roads in the EU as well as collisions involving existing Level 2 assisted driving systems;
  3. Direct access to in-car data for relevant authorities to enable in-depth, independent, forensic crash investigations;

In the USA, the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) has investigated several collisions involving Level 2 assisted driving systems, and provided useful recommendations to manufacturers. The UK is currently consulting on the setting up of a road crash investigation authority.

Within the EU, most authorities do not routinely access in-vehicle data when investigating collisions due to the technical complexity and legal barriers. The Netherlands has taken a leading role in investigating collisions involving automated systems and recently found a method for accessing in-vehicle data without the manufacturer’s involvement. ETSC says the EU must put a proper system of regulatory oversight in place before the further roll-out of automated systems in the EU is allowed.

Share. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email
Previous ArticleTfL data shows huge increase in foot and cycle journeys during the pandemic
Next Article Cenex and UTAC extend event partnership with two-year agreement
Lauren Dyson

Lauren is a regular contributor to Traffic Technology International (TTi) and a freelance technical journalist. Over the past 15 years, she has worked on a wide variety of B2B publications and websites, including a stint as deputy editor of Traffic Technology International from 2014-2016. She has a degree in English from the University of Exeter. Lauren is mum to two busy little girls. She is always in demand!

Related Posts

Autonomous Vehicles & ADAS

FEATURE: The FHWA’s Framework for automated-vehicle testing explained

November 23, 20238 Mins Read
Autonomous Vehicles & ADAS

CAVForth wins first Self-driving Industry Vehicle of the Year award

November 21, 20232 Mins Read
Features

FEATURE: How one Native American tribe is tackling the problem of road safety

November 16, 20238 Mins Read
Latest Posts

Yunex Traffic launches new cloud-based traffic management system

December 5, 2023

Kapsch TrafficCom funds establishment of mobility chair

December 5, 2023

INRIX announces new AI technology that uncovers root causes of traffic problems

December 5, 2023
FREE WEEKLY NEWS EMAIL!

Get the ‘best of the week’ from TrafficTechnologyToday.com direct to your inbox every Thursday


Supplier Spotlight
  • triple sign system AB
    Triple Sign System AB
Our Social Channels
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Getting in Touch
  • Free Email Newsletters
  • Contact Us
  • Meet the Editors
  • Supplier Spotlight

Upcoming Events

Jan 7
7th January 2024 - 11th January 2024

TRB Annual Meeting

Jan 9
9th January 2024 - 12th January 2024

CES 2024

Apr 16
16th April 2024 - 19th April 2024

Intertraffic Amsterdam

View Calendar
© 2023 Mark Allen Group Ltd | All Rights Reserved
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.