16. GRVA received the status report (GRVA-12- 30) from the expert from the Netherlands, Co-Chair of the IWG on VMAD, highlighting the work done on guidelines for the New Assessment/Test Method (NATM), as required by the Framework Document on Automated Vehicles. He described the open issues addressed by the subgroups and the collaboration activities with the IWG on FRAV.

17. He explained that the group convened three times since September 2021 and that the four subgroups met 20 times, in total. He detailed that the second iteration of the master document on NATM grew from 46 pages to 103 pages.

18. GRVA acknowledged that the master document prepared by the IWG on VMAD contained information about the pillars of the new assessment test method and went beyond guidelines. GRVA noted that the IWG on VMAD would develop a second document containing guidelines as there was the need to separate recommendations from the descriptive information.

19. The expert from OICA highlighted the importance of the work done by the group and its subgroups. He inquired whether the task of the subgroup 2 was about pass/fail criteria or about information sharing.

20. The expert from China mentioned the different pillars that composed the NATM. He asked how to apply them and how to ensure that the combination of the four pillars was sufficient. The expert from Canada, Co-Chair of the IWG, referred to Chapter 4 titled “Applying a Multi-pillar Approach to the NATM”.

21. The expert from Sweden inquired whether some activities, in parallel to the development of the VMAD guidelines, would be performed under the framework of the 1958 Agreement and if yes, when. The Chair responded that no Contracting Party to the 1958 Agreement had requested to start regulatory activity at this stage.

22. The expert from the Netherlands highlighted the open question regarding the inclusion (or exclusion) of provisions for the user manual concerning misleading names or names given to systems that imply a different performance of the system than the real one.

23. The expert from ETSC referred to his comment under item 4(a) and pointed at Annex IV, item 1.

24. GRVA requested the secretariat to submit GRVA-12-12 to WP.29 for information (in March 2022) and for consideration and vote at its June 2022 session, subject to final review by GRVA at its May 2022 session.