At the 1st European Conference on Connected and Automated Driving (CAD) the European Commission fully committed itself to a fast deployment of self-driving technologies in Europe. The conference, organised with the assistance of FIA Region I, took place in Brussels on 3 and 4 April 2017.

The conference focused on the significant progress made in developing automated road transport technologies, such as advanced vehicle control, vehicle localisation systems, data processing, artificial intelligence or user interfaces, fostered by Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme.

The Commission supports the development of an EU framework for CAD to offer the users a wide portfolio of mobility services; to strengthen the competitiveness of the EU industry and to increase sustainability without curbing mobility.

The EU now is expected to come up with the legal and regulatory framework tackling the challenges related to CAD, such as safety issues, public acceptance, cyber-security, use of data, privacy, liability and ethical issues.

Background

In April 2016, EU transport ministers outlined the steps necessary for the development of self-driving technology in the Amsterdam Declaration. The Commission then proposed working on a coherent European framework for the deployment of interoperable CAD.

At the Digital Day in Rome on 23 March 2017, 29 European countries signed a Letter of Intent to intensify their cooperation on cross-border testing of automated vehicles. This initiative also drives forward the plans of the Commission’s strategy to build a European Data Economy announced in January 2017.

Visit the Connected and Automated Driving website