23. WP.29 noted WP.29-164-27 on the activities of UNECE and the Working Party on Brakes and Running Gear (GRRF) on autonomous vehicles and the request for guidance on the future direction. The Co-Chair of ITS announced that his group could provide recommendations at its forthcoming meetings. The Chair of GRRF stressed the need for feedback before the February 2015 session of GRRF to allow further work progress. WP.29 invited GRRF to follow the recommendations provided by the IWG on ITS, awaiting further instructions by WP.29 at its March or June 2015 sessions. WP.29 agreed to consider both ITS and autonomous vehicles under one agenda item “Intelligent Transport Systems and automated vehicles” at its March 2015 session.

43. The experts from Japan and Sweden presented GRRF-78-14 amending UN Regulation No. 79 aimed at (i) starting a discussion on the removal of the speed limitation for the Automatically Commanded Steering Function, (ii) introducing safety functions such as warnings and (iii) introducing On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) requirements permitting to verify the correct operational status of Electronic Systems assisting the steering. A number of GRRF experts considered some of those requirements to be design-restrictive. The Chair noted that the proposal was beyond the usual mandate of GRRF and he announced his intention to seek the guidance of WP.29 at its November 2014 session.

44. GRRF requested the secretariat to keep GRRF-78-14 as a reference document on the agenda, inform the IWG on ITS about this proposal and distribute GRRF-78-05 with an official symbol for consideration at the next GRRF session.