Artificial intelligence is becoming more prevalent every day in automotive solutions, particularly in those providing safety benefits. Applications such as emergency braking or lane-keeping systems frequently rely on machine learning AI, which trains them to recognise lane markings, obstacles, pedestrians, or other vehicles. Within 5 years, most active safety systems in new cars will be—at least partially—AI-based and by 2030 all new vehicles will have AI technology. Further in the future, fully autonomous vehicles will make extensive use of AI.
Sigrid de Vries, Secretary General of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, highlights: “An appropriate legislative framework can boost the development and uptake of AI by providing market participants more legal certainty and bolstering consumer trust. However, the importance of not hindering innovation unnecessarily cannot be stressed enough. Burdensome requirements would jeopardise the development of safer vehicles and the EU’s own objective to eliminate road casualties by 2050. Regulatory requirements should always remain proportionate to the possible risks.” CLEPA considers that the proposal published today goes in the right direction by ensuring that automotive products remain primarily regulated through their sector-specific framework.
The legislative proposal is now in the hands of the EU’s co-legislators, the Parliament and the Council. In this context, automotive suppliers wish to reiterate the need for a coherent regulatory framework on AI. The automotive sector is already subject to strict ex-ante conformity controls designed to ensure the safety of vehicles. CLEPA believes that AI-related technical requirements for automotive products must be implemented into the existing vehicle type-approval framework, rather than duplicating certification, testing, and market surveillance. Automotive suppliers trust that the co-legislators will support the Commission’s approach in this regard.
CLEPA’s views on artificial intelligence are further outlined in a position paper adopted in December 2020. The automotive supplier industry stands ready to support EU policymakers throughout the adoption process of this new regulatory framework for AI.
SOURCE: CLEPA
