The new EC’s Mobility Package

The EU will be focusing on clean and automated mobility and will be more stringent on road safety, according to the new Mobility Package, the third and last one to be published by the Commission. For the first time, the package proposes to cut down truck emissions, with a target of -15% by 2025 from the 2019 levels and then at least -30% by 2030. Further measures are planned for more aerodynamic and new heavy vehicles tire labeling, as well as an action plan on batteries for electric cars.

New vehicles will have to be equipped with intelligent driving devices — from automatic brake to speed control, caution and lane to video cameras to avoid pedestrians and cyclists in blind corners —; furthermore, it will be necessary to extend to all state roads the EU security rules which currently apply only to motorways. The goal is to further halve the victims of accidents by 2030. On top of that, there is a strategy for automated cars: for 2019 new vehicles will have to be connected to Galileo and, by 2022, to the internet.

Although the package includes specific proposals to ensure better road safety and to amend the Vehicle General Safety regulation, it raises some concerns because it fails to set out a clear legislative pathway to guarantee a level playing field for digital car-related products and services, which would ensure that consumers can truly decide who they share their car data with and for what specific services.