World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations | Session 189 | 6-9 Mar 2023
Geneva
Agenda Item 2.3.
Intelligent Transport Systems and coordination of automated vehicles related activities

21. The Chair of GRVA recalled his presentation at the November 2022 session of the inventory of best Automated Driving Systems (ADS) storage practices titled “Review of the national / regional activities and a proposed way forward for DSSAD” (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/42). WP.29 adopted the document.

22. The Chair of GRVA recalled the purpose of ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/43, which included an updated Table 1 of the Framework Document on Automated Vehicles (FDAV). He announced the next iteration of that document would include the tasks and deliverables of the IWG on Cyber Security and Over-the-Air issues, to be expected in one of the next WP.29 sessions. WP.29 adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/43.

23. WP.29 reviewed WP.29-189-07, “New Assessment/Test Method for Automated Driving (NATM) Guidelines for Validating Automated Driving System (ADS) – amendments to ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2022/58” prepared by the GRVA IWG on Validation Methods for Automated Driving (VMAD) and requested the secretariat to distribute the document with an official symbol at the next session of WP.29.

24. The Chair of GRVA announced that WP.29 would receive a document from the GRVA IWG on Functional Requirements for Automated Vehicles (FRAV) for consideration at its June 2023 session as well as a combined document stemming from the FRAV and VMAD activities, as a pre-regulatory package for consideration one year later.

25. The GRVA Secretary presented WP.29-189-18, a note by the secretariat based on the working paper ITS-05-02 prepared as a background note for the fifth session of the IWG on ITS, a special session organized upon request by WP.29. He reported that IWG received other presentations and liaison statements from standard developing organizations, and that the discussions were fruitful. He invited WP.29 to discuss further steps.

26. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Co-Chair of the IWG on ITS, explained that the Co-Chairs of the group proposed that a task force be established under the IWG on ITS to further analyse the potential role of WP.29 in vehicular communications. He explained that the group would not be a substitute to GRVA as a drafting body for technical provisions in that field but that more exploration was needed and more of these focused sessions would support that workstream. The experts from the Netherlands, ITU, OICA and SAE International shared supporting views.

27. WP.29 agreed to establish a Task Force under the IWG on ITS and to transmit
WP.29-189-18/Rev.1 to the task force.

28. The representative of ITU presented WP.29-189-08 recalling the offer of ITU to host a database serving as electronic repository with traffic rules.

29. The representative of Canada recalled the organization in Canada regarding vehicle regulations and traffic rules with responsibilities at various levels. He understood the value of a central repository especially in the context of international traffic. He did not see it as the role of the governments to provide already publicly available information in an international database and to commit maintaining this database.

30. The representative of Germany confirmed that his country would hesitate to commit resources, since information was already publicly available.

31. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland explained that his country already published their highway code and is exploring the possibility of making it machine readable. He was cautious about countries being held liable, but he had no objection to the proposal and suggested that it should be presented to WP.1.

32. The representative of Australia supported the views expressed and recognised that such a repository could be useful to industry. He cautioned that regulation would refer to the content of a database and warned of the potential difficulties encountered in case the database content would not be accurate or up to date.

33. WP. 29 agreed that, while this a subject of common interest, WP.1 is the appropriate venue for a discussion on such database. WP29 invited ITU to make this presentation at WP.1.

Documentation
WP.29-189-07 ADS: Amendments to New Assessment/Test Method guidelines
WP.29-189-08 Electronic Repository of Traffic Rules
WP.29-189-18/Rev.1 Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication in the context of WP.29
WP.29/2023/42 Inventory of best ADS storage practices (Review of the existing national / regional activities and a proposed way forward for DSSAD)
WP.29/2023/43 AV Framework Document: Proposal for an updated Table 1