EU alliance to push driverless vehicle technologies, large scale pilots
The European Commission is to set up an alliance for car makers to share technologies for driverless vehicle development as well as direct support for EV mattery makers. This comes as WeRide and Renault are launching a commercial driverless shuttle service in France.
“We have agreed that we will set up and support an industry alliance where companies will be able to pool resources,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the commission. “They will develop shared software, chips and autonomous driving technology and on our side, we will refine the testing and deployment rules. We will also help launch large-scale pilots for autonomous driving.”
An action plan on Wednesday will give more details in a move that could boost the European automotive electronics supply chain and test industries. The action plan is also expected to allow for more support for European battery makers.
“We have to get autonomous vehicles on Europe’s roads faster,” she said. “We have agreed that we need a big push in software and hardware for autonomous driving. We know that global competition is fierce. So we have to act big and we have to be big. Scale on this topic matters, more than ever before,” she said.
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The push for an alliance for autonomous vehicles comes as Chinese operator is set to launch a trial of a commercial driverless shuttle service in France next week.
WeRide and Renault will provide level 4 autonomous technology for a passenger transport service on open roads in mixed traffic. Beti Automated Mobility will begin operations on March 10 providing driverless shuttles for up to eight people from the Rovaltain business park to the Valence TGV high speed train station in Drôme, France.
“Following successful trials conducted over the past year by Renault Group and its partner WeRide, the beginnings of a passenger transport service using automated shuttles are now being set up in Valence (France). Renault Group continues to move forward in order to implement its strategy to propose, well before the end of this decade, a relevant, low-carbon, efficient offer of automated minibuses, to meet the growing needs of territories,” said Patrick Vergelas, Head of Autonomous Mobility Projects, Renault Group.
This is the first WeRide autonomous shuttle service in Europe and comes ahead of a commercial rollout of driverless taxis in Switzerland. The driverless vehicle trial will determine the scale of the commercial roll out which is planned for July.
The European Commission also wants to avoid becoming dependent on existing battery suppliers. This comes after the collapse of the major home-grown battery developer, Northvolt.
“We cannot afford to create new dependencies so we will explore direct support for EU battery producers. We will gradually introduce European content requirements for battery cells and components.”
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