“New vehicle safety features from 2022 and successful implementation of turn assist systems”
Under the headline “New vehicle safety features from 2022 and successful implementation of turn assist systems” CITA, supported by the German Presidency of the Council of EU, organized a web-conference last Tuesday, November the 3rd 2020.
More than 100 delegates assisted at the debate about newest vehicle safety features and how to shape future mobility between representatives from the German Government, the European Parliament, the European Commission and CITA.
Divided in two parts, the event was open by Gerhard Müller – CITA President, followed by Mrs Karola Lambeck – Head of Cycling and Road Safety Taskforce, German Ministry of Transport; Elena Kountoura, MEP – Member of European United Left – Nordic Green Left in a video-message, and Matthias Schubert – Executive Vice President – Mobility TÜV Rheinland. In the second part Mr. Casto López Benítez, Team Leader – Road Safety – strategic analysis and data, vehicles, automatization – DG Move, and Peter Broertjes, Policy Assistant – DG Grow joined the discussion panel.
Thanks to the technical advances made in highly developed vehicle safety systems (sensing technology, cameras, radar and laser technology referred to as lidar), new chances will be opened up to further reduce the number of persons killed and injured. Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated vehicle technologies currently under development, promise to either assist the driving task or to altogether take human drivers out of the loop, thus reducing or eliminating accidents due to human error.
With its new General Safety Regulation, the European Commission consistently decided that such new technologies and safety measures will become mandatory in all Member States next 6 July 2022 in new vehicles. The intent is to make Europe a world leader in the development and deployment of connected and automated mobility services and systems, making a step-change in Europe’s mobility system in bringing down the number of road fatalities towards zero, within the next 10 years.
Now, the necessary detailed technical requirements, type approval processes and provisions for a continuous vehicle safety inspection for individual safety measures are being developed at EU and UNECE levels; some of them are already in force. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure has strongly supported at the EU for the Regulation to be applied, too. From the German Ministry perspective, making turn assist systems mandatory will contribute considerably to reducing the number of fatal accidents involving vulnerable road users – cyclists and pedestrians.