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

  • Q&A: Spire Payments
    November 20, 2013
    Kazem Aminaee, President and CEO of Spire Payments, talks to CARTES Daily News about challenges and opportunities – and about why the industry must embrace change Q Can you give a brief outline of Spire’s current business priorities? A To remain the fastest-growing European-based POS supplier and best alternative to traditional POS suppliers; to remain the leader in mobile POS; to remain the centre of excellence for T42xx and M43xx technology and to provide the best in kind call centre, logistics and
  • Consumer telematics driving automotive electronics
    February 3, 2012
    This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was characterised by consumer telematics solutions, writes Dave McNamara
  • Suppliers reshape to provide tolling and traffic management expertise
    August 2, 2013
    Jason Barnes examines the trend towards single source supply of complete tolling and traffic management solutions with some senior tolling industry figures. Only a few years back, the major tolling system suppliers were aggressively positioning themselves as one-stop shops for tolling solutions and operations. No sooner has that little flurry of innovation settled than another trend has emerged – tolling companies wanting to become major ITS suppliers as well. Various tolling company seniors have in recent
  • Vaisala: Weather data is vital for connected vehicles
    August 26, 2016
    Vaisala’s Dr Kevin Petty explains why the weather will continue to play a big part in road safety and traffic management in the smart cities of the future. The world is becoming increasingly connected. Thanks to advances in information and communications technology, the cities we live in are becoming ‘smart’, with everything from education to law enforcement managed by integrated tech solutions in a bid to improve quality of life.