Skip to main content

Toward a driverless future

On 10 December, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, took a part in the presentation of a fully autonomous car at Munich airport. The event was designed to highlight the role that driverless cars could play in enabling safer and more efficient vehicles, while also addressing legislative and consumer challenges posed by this new technology. The event coincided with the launch of the new European Commission high level group for the automotive
December 11, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
On 10 December, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, took a part in the presentation of a fully autonomous car at Munich airport. The event was designed to highlight the role that driverless cars could play in enabling safer and more efficient vehicles, while also addressing legislative and consumer challenges posed by this new technology.

The event coincided with the launch of the new European Commission high level group for the automotive sector, bringing together all relevant stakeholders. Gear 2030, which aims to develop recommendations to reinforce the competitiveness and tackle the main challenges the automotive sector will face in the next ten years. Automation, in particular, is a major trend that will be looked at by Gear 2030 as it will strengthen the sector by enabling safer and more efficient vehicle. Legislative hurdles, infrastructure investments and product liability issues, to name a few, are all key aspects that need resolution before the sector is able to put autonomous vehicles on the market.

Bieńkowska said: “Driverless cars represent a new opportunity for the mobility of Europeans and the competitiveness of European automotive industry. However, there must be careful thought into creating the best framework as this technology becomes a reality and users must be at the heart of this deployment.”

Related Content

  • December 22, 2014
    2015 a milestone for EU Road Safety Action Programme
    The workshop to discuss the preparation of the interim evaluation of the Road Safety Action Programme 2011-2020, organised by the European Commission's Road Safety Unit, was attended by the main stakeholders involved in road safety, including the European Road Federation (ERF).
  • June 4, 2015
    After two decades of research, ITS is getting into its stride
    Colin Sowman gets the global view on how ITS has shaped the way we travel today and what will shape the way we travel tomorrow. Over the past two decades the scope and spread of intelligent transport systems has grown and diversified to encompass all modes of travel while at the same time integrating and consolidating. Two decades ago the idea of detecting cyclists or pedestrians may have been considered impossible and why would you want to do that anyway? Today cyclists can account for a significant propor
  • December 9, 2014
    UK Autodrive consortium to develop driverless cars
    An Arup-led consortium, UK Autodrive, has won the UK Government’s US$15.6 million ‘Introducing Driverless Cars’ competition. Other members of the consortium are Milton Keynes Council, Coventry Council, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford Motor Company, Tata Motors European Technical Centre, RDM Group, MIRA, Oxbotica, AXA, international law firm Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, the Transport Systems Catapult, the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and the Open University. The aim of the project is to establis
  • February 6, 2020
    Truck platooning: the evidence is complex
    A number of claims are made for the value of truck platooning. David Crawford looks at the figures from a new set of examples which suggest that the situation is more complex than you might think