68. GRVA received a report (GRVA-12-09/Rev.1) from the expert from Germany, Co-Chair of the IWG on AEBS for heavy duty vehicles, on the progress made by the group to upgrade UN Regulation No. 131. He presented ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRVA/2022/7 (amended by GRVA-12-08), proposing to adjust the performance requirements in UN Regulation No. 131 to the current state of the art.

69. The expert from the Czech Republic highlighted that the upgraded provisions would be a significant contribution to road safety. He denied that the provisions corresponded to the current state of art technology. He explained that this assessment would only be true for a limited number of truck manufacturers and added that smaller truck manufacturers would be impacted as they were not working closely enough with the big systems suppliers for such systems.

70. The expert from ETSC mentioned the potential positive impact on road safety that this amendment, if adopted, could bring.

71. GRVA worked during the week on different options to introduce the requirements related to the vehicle to vehicle and the vehicle to pedestrian use cases and the corresponding transitional provisions as well as the AEBS deactivation conditions, on the basis of positions expressed by Australia, Germany, Japan, CLEPA, ETSC and OICA (GRVA-12-38, GRVA-12-39, GRVA-12-41, GRVA-12-42/Rev.1, GRVA-12-44, GRVA-12-46 and GRVA-12-47). GRVA also discussed provisions restricting the ability to switch off AEBS.

72. GRVA requested the secretariat to submit ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRVA/2022/7 as amended by GRVA-12-49 (reproduced in GRVA-12-50/Rev.1), to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration and vote at their June 2022 sessions.

23. The Secretary of WP.29 introduced the list of Working Parties, Informal Working Groups and Chairs (WP.29-185-01), the calendar of meetings of the World Forum for 2022 (WP.29-185-02) and presented the revised Programme of Work (PoW) with a strategic introduction on the main priorities of the WP.29 work, which are related to the implementation of the ITC strategy 2030 and among others, to vehicle automation and environmental protection. (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2021/1/Rev.2).

24. The representatives of the United States of America and Japan expressed concern with the dates and timing of the November 2022 session of the World Forum and requested that these dates be re-adjusted to enable their full participation at that session. The representative of Japan also expressed concern with the time of WP.29 and GRs sessions in 2022 and requested that timing is decided taking into account world-wide time zones so that most participants attending remotely can attend at suitable hours without extra burden. The Chair of GRVA expressed concerns about the non-confirmed session of GRVA in May 2022. He recalled the importance for GRVA to hold a third session in the year prior to the June 2022 session of WP.29.

25. The secretariat introduced informal document WP.29-185-06, which will form the basis for the 2022 Programme of Work of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations and its Subsidiary Bodies. WP.29 noted that the updated list of priorities for GRSP would be provided following the December 2021 session. WP.29 was informed on a scheduled ad-hoc session of AC.2 for final review before the adoption at the March 2022 session of WP.29.

26. The representative of the European Commission introduced informal document WP.29-185-17, proposing a list of priorities from the European Union covering safety and automated/connected vehicles as well as emissions.

27. WP.29 endorsed the revised programme of work as introduced in ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2021/1/Rev.2.

GRVA received progress reports from the IWGs on AEBS-HDV (GRVA-10-37) and on AEBS (GRVA-10-40).

GRVA requested the secretariat to submit GRVA-10-03 to WP.29 and AC.1 for consideration and vote at their November 2021 sessions.

GRVA requested the secretariat to introduce GRVA-10-06 in the revised proposal for a programme of work (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2021/1/Rev.1)

GRVA adopted the provisional agenda prepared for the session, ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRVA/2021/18, with the following insertion: Item 12(d) “Arrangement of meetings” (See GRVA-10-20/Rev.1).

92. The expert from Germany, Co-Chair of the IWG on AEBS for heavy vehicles reported on the outcome of the first meeting, a market review, an accidentology data review and a proposal for Terms of Reference, reproduced in GRVA-09-32. He explained that the document contained two options for consideration by GRVA.

93. The expert from Japan noted the very good progress already made by the group and expressed support for the proposal for Terms of Reference. He mentioned the importance of the detection of vulnerable road users as more than 50 per cent of the fatalities heavy duty vehicles were pedestrian and bicycles. He acknowledged the technical challenge of the task. He did not express preference of any options.

94. Following discussion, also on the two options in the document, GRVA adopted the Terms of Reference reproduced in Annex V of the session report (based on GRVA-09-32/Rev.1).