13. The Secretary to GRVA introduced the proposal for an update to the Recommendations for Automotive Cyber Security and Software Updates (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/87). The Chair of GRVA reminded WP.29 that the aim of the document was to provide a guidance document that could be used for the purpose of drafting a UN GTR on Cyber Security, if envisaged.

14. WP.29 adopted the document ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/87.

15. The Secretary to GRVA presented ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2023/88, a proposal for amendments to Guidance on Event Data Recorder (EDR) Performance Elements Appropriate for Adoption in 1958 and 1998 Agreement Resolutions or Regulations. WP.29 agreed to keep it as a reference document on the agenda. It was explained that the document is a work in progress and presented for informational purposes only.

16. The representative of the United States of America, Co-Chair of the IWG on Functional Requirements for Automated and Autonomous Vehicles (FRAV), introduced WP.29-191-07. He informed WP.29 that this document included an update on the User-Interaction/Human-Machine-Interface (HMI) section , as promised, in WP.29-190-08 and thereby completed the deliverable of the Guidelines for Regulatory Requirements and Verifiable Criteria for ADS Safety Validation. The Chair of GRVA emphasised the importance of this amendment, which is also the basis for the User Interaction and HMI section in the draft DCAS regulation, currently in development.

17. WP.29 endorsed WP.29-191-07 and requested the secretariat to distribute with an official symbol at the March 2024 session of WP.29 for consideration.

18. The Chair of GRVA introduced WP.29-191-06, a draft resolution with guidance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of road vehicles under review by GRVA. He recalled the mandate received by GRVA, the work done since December 2020 and the iterations that led to this version of the document, which included a draft resolution with principles as well as definitions. He asked for guidance from WP.29, whether it was in favour to accept such a document and which status it should have. He also asked for guidance on the tasks that GRVA should perform in that field, if any.

19. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland welcomed the work on this item to date. He advocated for the further development of the draft to include best practices and guidance for deployment. He proposed to further develop Annex 3 and describe the assessment of AI with the New Assessment Test Method. He supported that further work and exchange take place at GRVA as his delegation intended to share information on the development in that field in his country, including on AI life cycle for Machine Learning.

20. The Secretary to GRSG proposed that the resolution, bridging the 1958 and 1998 agreements, be named Mutual Resolution No. 5 and that it would be subject to vote at WP.29 and AC.3.

21. The representative of the European Union echoed the comments from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Norther Ireland. He also inquired how this work would link to the upcoming work on ADS.

22. The representative of Canada felt that more discussions would be needed. He welcomed the offer by the representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to share information on the developments in his Country. He said that WP.29 already agreed that the IWG on ITS would host the AI discussion and suggested that further work need to be done with all the relevant stakeholders, not just GRVA.

23. The representative of OICA welcomed the agreement in principle on the document. He confirmed that it was a first start corresponding to the current status of industry in that field and that further updates would be needed as technical progress was achieved.

24. The representative of Germany reminded WP.29 of the importance of the topic and of the mandate received by GRVA. He agreed that further developments would be needed. He highlighted the significant efforts done by GRVA on definitions and suggested that WP.29 give an official status to this outcome. He suggested that the definitions could be shared with other groups, to avoid potential divergence in the near future. The representative of the European Union supported the endorsement of the definitions. The representatives of OICA and SAE International supported the ideas expressed and proposed to adopt the document as a mutual resolution to increase the visibility of it.

25. WP.29 agreed with the proposal from the representative of France to request the secretariat to distribute the document with an official symbol for review and potential adoption at the next session. WP.29 agreed that an informal document produced by GRVA in January 2024 could amend that document. WP.29 supported that work be continued at GRVA to further develop the document and to exchange information and best practices.

26. The representative of Japan, Co-Chair of WP.29 and of the IWG on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), introduced the status report from the IWG on ITS (WP.29-191-24). He informed WP.29 about the results of the sixth meeting of the IWG on ITS, being the agreement to hold a special workshop for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging systems and that delegations provide comments on the UNECE publication on ITS. He reported that during this session, the IWG had welcomed the new Co-Chair, Mr. D. Kay, following the retirement of Mr. I. Yarnold. He informed WP.29 about the seventh meeting of the IWG on ITS, where the IWG had received a report from the Task Force on Vehicular Communication (TF on VC) including the results of the workshop on EV charging and reported that the IWG had discussed further activities. He mentioned that Japan/MLIT had presented initiatives related to ITS and that ITU had presented views on traffic rules for ADS. He further informed WP.29 that the IWG that the term of Ms. L. Dotzauer engagement with WP.29 was ending and wished her all the success deserved for her career. He reported on the outcome of the workshop on V2X on EV charging and summarized the views expressed on the need for harmonized regulation on V2X on Electric Vehicle charging and discussions were still ongoing. He concluded that the Group had agreed to host further workshops on this item, as necessary.

27. The representative of the Netherlands inquired if the IWG on ITS would reach out to other groups to address EV charging. He stated that this topic needed to be addressed at a broader level including stakeholders dealing with the energy sector and vehicle charging infrastructure, as it included areas which were not covered by WP.29.

28. The WP.29 Chair pointed out that this item would be further addressed under agenda item 8.5.4., when WP.29 will receive information about the latest decisions from the Working Party on Trends and Economics (WP.5) with respect to electric vehicles and its charging infrastructure.

29. The secretariat reminded WP.29 that the current ToRs of the IWG on ITS included outreach to other UNECE groups and external organizations so as to ensure WP.29 awareness of developments relevant to its role in the regulation of motor-vehicle performance, and to ensure those other organizations and institutions were aware of WP.29, its role and responsibilities in this area, but without mandate to liaise with external stakeholders on regulatory activities.

30. The representative of ITU suggested to forward VCTF-04-04 (referenced in WP.29‑191-24), to the IWG on Cyber Security and Over the Air (CS/OTA) issues, to have a look at this topic in relation to UN Regulation No. 156.

31. The representative of SAE International informed WP.29 that SAE International was currently working on this topic and offered to provide further input to the IWG on CS/OTA and other relevant groups.

32. The representative of ITU presented WP.29-191-22, a proposal for establishing Terms of Reference (ToR) for an effort to analyse if new data catalogues were needed, e.g. a data catalogue for Automated Driving Systems (ADS). He stated that creating a data catalogue required strong communication between the user and IT world, and therefore, the ToR should be developed from the technical-organisational side.

33. The representative of France welcomed the proposal by ITU and supported having further discussions on this item, to reach agreement on the appropriate timing and the potential content of such catalogues, among others. He informed WP.29 that France had a database for different automated driving scenario that they would present at the next IWG on Validation Method for Automated Driving (VMAD) meeting.

34. The representative of Japan asked for clarification if this item had been already discussed in subgroup 1 (SG1) of the IWG on VMAD and stressed that duplication of work should be avoided.

35. The representative of ITU confirmed that this topic had been discussed at SG 1 of the IWG on VMAD and stressed that this work was necessary to support the IWG on VMAD. He stated that the IWG on VMAD discussed that there could be the need for a scenario catalogue, but it would not be created by the IWG on VMAD due to time constraints, and that there would be difficulties to maintain such catalogue.

36. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland reminded WP.29 of WP.29-178-29 and stated that other catalogues, created by other groups, already existed. He highlighted that United Kingdom was still considering whether it is necessary for the UNECE to have a dedicated scenario database and highlighted recent discussions in VMAD. He pointed out that if WP.29 would agree to create a catalogue, it needed to be considered how it would be used, and who would take responsibility and take care of the maintenance.

37. The secretariat presented WP.29-191-16 recalling the purpose of Annex 7 in the consolidated resolution on the construction of vehicles R.E.3. WP.29 invited the GRs to evaluate which regulations should be amended to permit software updates, as suggested by the representative of France.

38. The representative of France introduced WP.29-191-29, a joint statement of the expert groups on regulatory fitness for automated driving systems regarding the establishment of a task force on categories for automated vehicles. He informed WP.29 about the background as well as about the proposed principles for the work on categories and the potential TF.

39. The representatives of China, the European Union, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America highlighted the importance of this topic and supported the proposal. The representatives of Germany and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland offered to chair the group with potential other co-chairs.

40. The representative of IMMA requested to exclude or postpone consideration of L-category-vehicles in the new TF on establishment of categories for automated vehicles. He clarified the additional complexity due to diversity of L-category or category 3 vehicles which range from light mopeds to motorcycles, three wheelers, to light and heavy quadricycles. Also, there is a lack of urgency to consider powered two-wheelers which are very complex to automate and IMMA’s recent efforts in GRSP and GRSG to update the category of L7 quadricycle vehicles proved extremely complex due to major diversities in the jurisdictions.

41. The representatives of Germany and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland stated that category L vehicles should not be excluded from the scope and should first be discussed in the TF.

42. The GRVA Chair highlighted that the work on vehicle categorization should both address the needs for automation and be kept as simple as possible. He asked WP.29 for guidance on how the TF should address R.E.3 and S.R.1, as both documents include vehicle categories.

43. The secretariat informed WP.29 about the process of amending S.R.1. and pointed at para. 2.4 of the resolution, which could have an impact on the choice of a deadline.

44. WP.29 agreed to establish the TF and that it could start the work keeping in mind the two categorization systems set in RE.3 and SR.1.

45. The GRVA Chair introduced WP.29-191-30, a proposal for the regulatory approach for Automated Driving Systems, including among others, the collaborative development of a UN GTR as well as UN Regulation for ADS until 2026 on the basis of the deliverables of FRAV and VMAD and guided by the framework document, the establishment of an IWG on ADS and the organisation of at least two ADS related two-days-workshops per year by GRVA. He introduced WP.29-191-31, an amendment to the framework document and WP.29-191-32, an amendment to the WP.29 Programme of Work concerning GRVA activities, to reflect this proposal in these documents.

46. The representative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland suggested to add a timeline and process to track progress, against which the IWG on ADS should report, supported by the representative of the European Union.

47. The representatives of Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, OICA and CLEPA supported the modified document (WP.29-191-30/Rev.1).

48. The representative of ITU cautioned that the regulatory work should separately address vehicles equipped with an ADS which can still interact with a driver, and vehicles that are dedicated to ADS (e.g., autonomous shuttles).

49. WP.29 adopted WP.29-191-30/Rev.1, WP.29-191-31 and WP.29-191-32 and requested the secretariat to distribute WP.29-191-31 with an official symbol at the next session. WP.29 agreed that the workshops could be hybrid or virtual and in English only.

50. The representative of the United States of America announced that the USA would be one of the sponsors for the UN GTR on ADS and would welcome other co-sponsors.