From paper to pavement: Global self-driving rules enter the real world

After years of drafting, global rules for automated driving are entering the messy implementation phase.

A UN vehicle-regulations panel convened in Geneva on Monday, three months after the first international technical regulation for automated driving systems (ADS GTR) was adopted, to sort out how different countries will apply the same rules.

That panel is the Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA), a subsidiary body of the UN World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29).

Its 26th session follows the June adoption of the ADS GTR at the 199th WP.29 plenary session – and the focus has now shifted from drafting rules to applying them.

The session's agenda includes progress reports from the ADS Informal Working Group (ADS IWG), the applicability of UN Global Technical Regulations and UN Regulations to ADS, and the classification of automated vehicles.

These items address unresolved questions: how different contracting parties will transpose the same technical regulation into national law, and which categories of automated vehicles fall under which rules.

The GRVA chair has proposed an implementation support mechanism similar to the one used for UN Regulation No.

155 on cybersecurity, with guidance and interpretation documents to ensure consistent application.

China is a vice-chair of GRVA and co-chair of the ADS IWG.

In February, at the 19th ADS IWG meeting in Shanghai, China's technical proposals on dynamic driving tasks and human-machine interaction were accepted.

China also shared data from closed test grounds, public roads and vehicle-road collaborative testing.

These contributions fed into the ADS GTR, which was jointly led by China, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Japan.

China's domestic standard, GB 44721-2026, was approved on July 30 and takes effect on July 1, 2027.

It covers Level 3 and Level 4 systems for M and N category vehicles, excluding automated parking.