Global Rules for Autonomous Cars Approved, Here's What It Contains

JAKARTA - The first global technical regulation for automated driving systems has been officially approved. This rule is a common basis for countries that are beginning to pave the way for autonomous vehicles safely.

China Daily, quoted on Friday, June 26, reported that the regulation called the Automated Driving Systems Global Technical Regulation or ADS GTR was jointly led by China, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Japan.

The rules were adopted at a meeting in Geneva after being approved by the parties at the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations or WP.29 under the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

ADS GTR sets the main technical requirements for automated driving system products. These rules also regulate the obligations of manufacturers, ranging from safety management, product safety documents, thorough testing, validation, to vehicle safety after being used on the road.

The regulation also contains audit and evaluation methods. In that way, supervision is not only carried out when the vehicle is tested, but throughout the product life cycle.

ADS is a system that allows vehicles to perform certain driving functions automatically. At a higher level, this system can take over some of the driver's tasks in predetermined conditions.

The approval of this global rule comes as autonomous vehicle technology is rapidly entering the market. In China, the penetration rate of new vehicles with advanced driving assistance systems or ADAS has exceeded 60 percent.

ADAS is a driving assistance feature such as lane keeping, automatic braking, or adaptive cruise control. This feature has not fully made the car drive itself, but it is the foundation for autonomous vehicles.

Before this rule was approved, there was no uniform international technical standard. Major countries are still moving with their own approaches.

China is said to have played an active role in the process of drafting regulations. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology coordinated research institutions and industry players to submit dozens of technical proposals and shared test data from closed tracks, public roads, and vehicle collaboration tests with road infrastructure.

Domestically, China is also speeding up the mandatory national standard for automatic driving systems. The standard has been completed and is awaiting approval.

The national standard is aligned with the ADS GTR, but is still detailed for China's needs, especially Level 3 and Level 4 automated systems.

Level 3 means that vehicles can drive themselves under certain conditions, but the driver must still be ready to take over. Level 4 is higher because the vehicle can run automatically in a specific area or condition without driver intervention.

China's standards also strengthen user training and information disclosure obligations so that technology is not misused or makes users too trusting of the system.

The head of the China Automotive Standardization Research Institute, Sun Hang, said China has an advantage in the development of autonomous vehicle standards. One of them comes from the complicated and diverse urban traffic conditions.

According to Sun, as quoted by China Daily, the system that has been successfully validated in China has the potential to have strong global adaptability. He also said China has many technological pathways, from camera-based systems to technologies that use lidar.

Lidar is a laser-based sensor that helps vehicles read the surrounding environment.

China is also pushing for the integration of vehicles, roads, and cloud computing. In this system, cars not only rely on their own sensors, but also get data support from roads and digital networks.

In December, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology granted road permits for two Level 3 electric sedans from Changan Automobile and Arcfox, a brand owned by BAIC Motor. This is the first time that such vehicles have been allowed to operate on China's public roads.

However, the permit is still tight. The Changan model can only drive automatically one lane up to 50 kilometers per hour when stuck on certain toll roads in Chongqing. Meanwhile, Arcfox can run up to 80 kilometers per hour on certain toll roads in Beijing.