From 28 to 30 November 2023, GTB held the 134th session of their Committee of Experts (CE) in an online-only meeting format, held in three 2-hour sessions.
Two main topics were on agenda, relating to road projections items: adaptive predicted trajectory (light carpet), and SRP—signal road projection for turn signals and reversing lamps.
Discussions during the session on both topics were not conclusive, and two ballots were launched to decide whether to present the related GTB proposals to the 90th GRE session. Unfortunately, the results of both ballots were negative, so the presentation of these proposals to GRE is postponed. The involved GTB Working Groups will resume their discussions to refine the proposals so as to hopefully approve them at the next CE session.
Several other topics were also discussed, mainly devoted to corrections and to procedural questions in some UN Regulations. Those topics have been discussed and approved and they will be sent to the GRE Secretariat for discussion in the 90th GRE session, to be held in April.
The most interesting one of these is a change to UN R48 (06-, 07-, and 08-series of amendments) to clarify the application of extended installation height of passing-beam headlamps (up to 1.5 m) and vertical orientation limits, for not just N3G-class but also M2G, N2G, and M3G-class vehicles—this change will align this requirement to the same one in the 09-series of amendments.
Other technical items were also examined, like improved definition and determination of the “apparent surface” of a lamp, updated requirements for flashing side marker lamps, new approaches on lamps in the shape of bands or stripes, and others; all these items were referred to the pertinent WGs for resuming the discussion and finalize the proposals.
Information was provided about the state of the art of the Headlamp Safety Performance Rating (HSPR) and the accessibility to a web-site hosting all the reports and assessment of the tested headlamps.
Finally, the committee approved the plan for forthcoming GTB sessions:
Intermediate WGs and TFs session: Den Haag (Netherlands), 19-23 February. The CE agreed to devote a full-day for a forum on environment and sustainability as applied to vehicle lights, on Wednesday 21 February;
135th plenary session: Charlotte (North Carolina, USA), 3-7 June 2024;
Intermediate WGs and TFs session: to be decided;
136th plenary session: Salzburg (Austria), 18-22 November 2024 (to be confirmed by the Austrian hosts);
137th plenary session: Spain confirmed its willingness to host this session, in the Spring of 2025; more information should be provided during the 135th session.
