Investment in driverless cars should include focus on interior tech functionality, says expert

Specialist in the regulation of autonomous vehicles Stephan Appt of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that there is a growing body of opinion in the automotive market that the premium cars of the future will be the ones which boast the best functionality from their "interior technology".

"If we jump forward a number of years there promises to be cars on the roads that are completely autonomous which can transport people from A to B without a human needing to be behind the wheel," Appt said. "In this context there is a growing view that traditional differentiating features of cars, such as driving enjoyment, their top speed for example, will become of lesser importance to the consideration of what a premium car is."

"As soon as the technology is safe and works and with there being no longer a requirement on car owners to drive their own vehicles, their focus will turn to what functionality car technology can deliver during a journey," he said. "The better this technology the more likely a car will be classed as a premium brand."

"Companies and governments investing in the connected and autonomous cars market should look to support the development of new virtual reality services, such as virtual meetings for business people in transit, and the latest infotainment solutions to ensure they are at the forefront in this market," he said.

Appt was commenting after the US government announced a near-$4 billion 10-year investment to support the testing of autonomous vehicles across the US in "real-world pilot projects".

As part of the announcement the US Department of Transportation also published new policy guidance that commits the government to take action on a number of fronts. They include continuing research into autonomous vehicle technology, incentivising the "development and adoption of technologies using vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications" and utilising "currently available regulatory tools, such as interpretations and exemptions, to more rapidly enable safety innovations".

Ben Gardner, expert in autonomous vehicles technology and regulation at Pinsent Masons, said that the existing regulatory framework in the US for driverless cars testing "is messy" as the rules vary across different states. Although driverless car testing has taken place in some states, such as California, the regulatory uncertainty means there is "still a lack of certainty about the US as a future market", he said.

Some European countries have been trying to position themselves as the ideal place to develop and commercialise autonomous vehicles technology. In the UK a streamlined code of practice for testing 'driverless' vehicles on public roads has been developed and the UK government ran a competition for £20 million of funding to support driverless car trials. Gardner said that the government has since pledged a further £120m in funding to support growth in the UK of developments in driverless cars technology.

Gardner said the UK's "light touch framework" gives some flexibility to companies looking to test autonomous vehicles but that the UK needs to reform existing legislation to give car manufacturers, technology companies and other interested stakeholders "the confidence to test, develop and market their products and services" in the UK. He said the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (C-CAV), a joint policy unit set up by the UK's Department for Transport and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has been set up for this purpose.

Businesses operating in the German automotive market are expected to invest between €16-18 billion in research and development on connected and automated driving over the next three or four years, according to figures published in October last year by industry trade body Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA).

The German government has also laid out a strategy for automated and connected driving in which it highlighted its aim of remaining at the forefront of technological innovation. The strategy outlines steps the German government intends to take to update the legislative framework to support industry's development of autonomous vehicles. In addition, a "motorway test bed" for driverless cars has already been launched in Germany on the A9 federal motorway.

"The discussion and research across Europe on the limits and requirements of new laws to support the testing and use of autonomous vehicles needs to be intensified," Appt said. "There is a lot of work to do to support the technology being developed and we know from experience in other areas that where technology is developed and comes into use at a faster pace than legislation keeps up with that it can result in increased pressure on the legislative to amend laws in a hurried fashion resulting in the updated legal framework being unclear. This would not be in the interests of governments, regulators, automotive and technology businesses or the public."