Car emissions and automated driving: Europe sets tone for global standards

Good news come these days from the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations hosted by the United Nations Economic Mission for Europe (UNECE).

The platform decided on 21 June to use the novel European methodology for testing car emissions on the road to develop, under the chairmanship of the Commission, a globally harmonised regulation. Indeed, the Commission has led the way internationally by introducing Real Driving Emissions testing (RDE) and making it mandatory since September 2017 (see FAQs). Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska welcomed the decision: “This is excellent news for regulators, industry and consumers alike. The emissions testing on the road that we developed in Europe will become a global standard by 2020. And automated mobility gets the deserved recognition as a key technology for the next generation of vehicles. With our international partners we will work on an international framework for ever safer, cleaner and modern cars.” Since RDE was introduced in the European Union, countries like Japan, Korea and China have developed their own versions of RDE. Now the work will start to develop a global standard out of it. The World Forum has also decided to set up a dedicated team to work on automated driving, following the recommendations of the Commission’s High Level Group ‘GEAR 2030’ and the Mobility Package in May 2018 with a  strategy for automated mobility, which called for coordination and harmonisation at international level.