German proposals for revision of the Vienna Convention to address the rise of automated driver assistance systems which currently would conflict with ‘driver always in control of the vehicle’ provisions.
85. The Secretary of the Working Party on Road Safety (WP.1) informed the World Forum that his group continued considering WP.29 proposals to amend the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic in view of aligning its provisions with those of the vehicle regulations developed in the framework of the 1958 and 1998 Agreements. Referring to Annex V to the Convention, he added that WP.1 would consider an updated version of ECE/TRANS/WP.1/2011/4/Rev.1 at its September 2013 session. He expected that WP.1 would continue consideration of the requirement specifying that “every driver shall at all
times be able to control his vehicle” as well as the “Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS)” definition on the basis of ECE/TRANS/WP.1/2012/8 and the documents submitted by Germany (WP.29-160-31) and by Belgium, France, Italy, Sweden and the United States (WP.29-160-32). The latter contained the result of the discussion of the WP.1 informal expert group. The representative of OICA introduced a proposal (WP.29-160-16) on the subject of the driver’s control, converging in principle with WP.29-160-31. Therefore, the World Forum invited the representatives of Germany and OICA to submit a joint proposal for consideration at the September 2013 session of WP.1.