Commission drafts adapt EU safety rules to vehicles that cannot be driven manually

The European Commission opened public feedback on two draft regulations that adapt vehicle safety requirements to fully automated vehicles. The draft delegated regulation, posted on November 4 with feedback open until December 2, amends four existing acts on alcohol interlock installation facilitation, driver drowsiness and attention warning, intelligent speed assistance and advanced driver distraction warning. It would exclude from them fully automated vehicles that cannot be driven manually at speeds exceeding 6 km/h. Its explanatory memorandum says drowsiness and distraction warnings could be deactivated when an automated driving system drives the vehicle, and speed assistance when a system with the same speed limit determination performance controls speed. The annexes also allow both warnings to be deactivated while a driver-operated system that assists with steering and speed on a sustained basis is active, provided it contains an equivalent driver monitoring system for drowsiness warnings or complies with UN Regulation 171 for distraction warnings.

The draft implementing regulation, posted on November 3 with feedback until December 1, amends the general construction rules and the emergency lane keeping rules. Its annexes allow lane keeping to be deactivated when another system takes over the entire dynamic driving task on a sustained basis, require that aerodynamic devices on fully automated vehicles not impair object and event detection and response, and let the reversing device be activated by the automated driving system.

The delegated act’s explanatory memorandum says the Commission committed in its Automotive Action Plan to allow the approval of unlimited series of autonomous vehicles in 2026. Both drafts state that they have not been adopted or endorsed by the Commission. The feedback page for the delegated act lists Commission adoption as planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.