Future Mobility on the Old Continent. The Latest Regulatory Updates for Autonomous Vehicles

Two sets of regulatory filters apply to autonomous driving, operating in parallel at the international and national levels. While the 1968 Vienna Convention, UN/ECE regulations, and NHTSA safety standards provide the international regulatory framework, national legislators set the specific rules within their borders. This paper examines recent international advances that will allow driverless vehicles to operate on public roads, as well as current national legislation. With the most recent update of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic in 2022, the baton has been passed to individual states. They must now decide whether, how, when and under what circumstances to allow autonomous driving. A comparative analysis of the countries where major automakers are based provides some de jure considerations.