Presentation on the status of the transposition of UN R138 on Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) requirements for quiet (e.g., electric) vehicles into EU law. The European Commission expects publication of the new requirements in the October 2017 Official Journal. The Commission is working on the transposition of the 01 series of amendments (prohibiting driver-activated pause functions).

Proposal to align the transitional provisions in the 01 series of amendments with the format introduced following Revision 3 of the 1958 Agreement.

Proposal to amend the wording of the transitional provisions as drafted for the 01 series to Regulation No. 138 (document WP.29/2017/7 for the March 2017 WP.29 session, prohibiting the AVAS pause function) with the guidelines for these provisions as established by Revision 3 of the 1958 Agreement.

Presentation on the current European Commission draft proposal for the transposition of UN R138 regarding “quiet road transport vehicles” into EU law. The draft would require the audible alert signal to be activated at vehicle start-up, but would allow for use of a pause function activated by the driver. A fuller set of documents was provided for the 64th Technical Committee-Motor Vehicles session.

Proposal to refine the scope by replacing the phrase “can travel” by “can be propelled”. The use of “travel” in the scope can be interpreted to include vehicles using using electrical systems for purposes other than propulsion (e.g., energy recuperation) that fall outside the test conditions of UN R138.

Proposal to refine the scope by replacing the phrase “can travel” by “can be propelled”. The use of “travel” in the scope can be interpreted to include vehicles using using electrical systems for purposes other than propulsion (e.g., energy recuperation) that fall outside the test conditions of UN R138. The proposal further amends:

1. Paragraph 2.7. to make clear the “pause function” refers to systems that allow the driver to deactivate an AVAS system;
2. Paragraph 6.2.6.: The vehicle operator shall not deactivate AVAS while driving. However, the manufacturer shall be enabled to activate or deactivate AVAS, including automatically, by regional coding according to legal provisions of various markets.
3. Paragraph 11.: the transitional provisions were added according to the rules of WP.29 for new series of amendments. Paragraph 11.6. has been added to maintain approvals that also comply with the new series of amendments, as is the case for vehicles that do not have a pause function according to the newly suggested paragraph 6.2.6.
4. Annex 1, Addendum to the communication form No …, Technical Information: technical information regarding “Pause switch (yes/no)” will be no longer necessary.