The sixth annual “The Autonomous” conference, which focuses on autonomous cars, took place at the prestigious Hofburg in Vienna on 17 and September. DVN’s friend Ricky Hudi is the founder and chairman of the conference. The event featured masterclass workshops, keynotes, fireside chats, and panel discussions. The stage featured the who’s-who of the international autonomous mobility industry, as well as regulators and scientists. Throughout the conference, the focus was on safety and security as key elements.
Some key takeaways:
- Safety design principles are mandatory. No cutting corners!
- ISO 26262 is a good foundation, but it is by no means sufficient.
- Redundancy is essential.
- Safety-critical functions cannot be in the cloud because they must be available in under 10 milliseconds.
- In general, the automotive industry needs more standardization in architecture and interfaces.
- Safety and security are not fields of competition, but rather, cooperation.
- New entrants are a fitness program for the automotive industry.
The regulatory panel was titled “The Regulatory Roadmap to Autonomous Vehicles: Balancing Safety and Innovation.” Richard Damm, president of the German KBA and chairman of the UN ECE, presented the unusually rapid rulemaking process for autonomous vehicles within the UN ECE framework. Everything will be ready by 2026 and in force by early 2027, before Level-3 and -4 cars enter European traffic.
Bolin Zhou of CATARC presented the Chinese perspective in a smart and eloquent way (“I never had a meeting in a palace”). The Chinese regulatory framework is like the ECE framework. From my perspective, China’s approach is more flexible initially, but after some problems arise in real traffic, the regulators respond quickly and decisively to improve safety.
In future “The Autonomous” sees itself as a part of robotics. This is an interesting and consistent approach.
