Part 3: Black Box Data Across the Pond: An Overview of International Laws, Regulations, and Recommendations Related to Vehicle Data Collection
United Nations
The United Nations Economic and Social Council advances the UN’s goal of sustainable development. Among its subsidiary regional bodies is the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
In 2018, the UNECE’s Inland Transport Committee, World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29), established the Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA). GRVA in turn considers regulatory proposals for vehicle data capture through its Informal Working Group on Event Data Recorder and Data Storage System for Automated Driving (EDR/DSSAD) (“the EDR/DSSAD IWG”).
We have already explained the general concept of EDR in prior posts. A DSSAD—or Data Storage System for Automated Driving—is similar to an EDR in that it collects vehicle collision data. However, DSSADs are specific to vehicles equipped with SAE Levels 3-5 automated driving systems. DSSADs collect data in a wider time-window than EDRs, reflecting the automated driving system’s status leading up to, during, and immediately following a vehicle collision. Unlike EDRs, DSSADs collect data regarding whether the driver or the automated system was in control of the vehicle, including at the time of the collision as well as the time leading up to it. More detail can be found at this presentation from the International Organization of Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA).
In 2019, in connection with the Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety, the Inland Transport Committee published a “resolution on the deployment of highly and fully automated vehicles in road traffic.” Included in its recommendations was that “governments consider” adopting policies “regarding the necessary data to assess . . . the causal factors involved in road traffic safety incidents, such as collisions, or traffic rule violations with highly and fully automated vehicles to resolve legal issues.” These recommendations also included increasing public awareness on both the safety and the dangers of highly automated vehicles, and ensuring that there are security measures in place to protect data privacy.
In 2020, WP.29 published a Framework document on automated/autonomous vehicles “to provide guidance to . . . subsidiary Working Parties (GRs) by identifying key principles for the safety and security of automated/autonomous vehicles of levels 3 and higher.” The “common principles” identified for further development in the guidance included:
Event data recorder (EDR) and Data Storage System for Automated Driving vehicles (DSSAD): The automated/autonomous vehicles should have the function that collects and records the necessary data related to the system status, occurrence of malfunctions, degradations or failures in a way that can be used to establish the cause of any crash and to identify the status of the automated/autonomous driving system and the status of the driver. The identification of differences between EDR and DSSAD to be determined.
Framework, Key issues and principles to be considered by WP29 subsidiary bodies as a priority.
The current UN regulations related to EDR and DSSAD are UN Regulation 157, “Uniform provisions concerning the approval of vehicles with regarding to Automated Lane Keeping Systems [ALKS],” and UN Regulation 160, “Uniform provisions concerning the approval of motor vehicles with regard to the Event Data Recorder.”
In March 2021, UN Regulation 157 was implemented as “the first regulatory step for an automated driving system . . . in traffic and it therefore provides innovative provisions aimed at addressing the complexity related to the evaluation of the system safety.” As twice amended, Regulation 157 defines DSSAD as “enable[ing] the determination of interactions between the ALKS and the human driver,” requires that any vehicle equipped with ALKS be “fitted with a DSSAD” that will record specified data points upon activation of the ALKS, and that such data “shall be available subject to requirements of national and regional law.”
In October of the same year, UN Regulation 160 was implemented “to establish uniform provisions concerning the approval of [non-automated] motor vehicles . . . with regard to their” EDRs. Both regulations are the topic of ongoing discussion and development that can be tracked here.
European Union
In 2019, the European Parliament approved a General Safety Regulation (GSR) making EDRs mandatory in the EU for all new vehicles, including vans and buses, by July 2022. The regulation, EU Regulation 2019/2144, requires that EDRs collect and store data immediately before, during, and after a collision, collecting data required in accordance with UN Regulation No. 160, including braking, vehicle speed, and acceleration. The data that is collected by EDRs must be “anonymised,” and cannot record information about the identification of the vehicle or the owner/driver. Even after a collision, the data collected by EDRs is expected to be accurate and stored so that it can be assessed by Member States to conduct road safety tests and analyses.
China
In December of 2020, China issued the national standard GB 39732-2020 (“Automobile Event Data Recording System”) which required all newly-manufactured passenger vehicles in China to be equipped with an EDR beginning January 1, 2022. The national standard also requires that EDRs have a certain trigger threshold, that the data collected is stored automatically and cannot be modified, and that the EDR must be able to record data of at least three consecutive crash events.
A China Automotive Event Data Recorder (EDR) Industry Report, 2022 published by ResearchAndMarkets.com notes that, in 2021, only about 9% of passenger vehicles in China were equipped with EDRs. With the new standard, this is expected to reach at least 70% by the end of 2022 and over 90% in 2024. As demand for EDRs increases and “can no longer meet the future market demand amid the prevailing autonomous vehicle,” it is expected that DSSAD will be a standard for SAE Level 3 vehicles to collect objective data to determine whether the driver or the automated driving system is responsible for a collision. While DSSAD standards are being drafted in China, there are currently no regulations in place.
For more information, check out Part 1 (“What’s the Big Difference? EDR v. Data Logger v. ‘VPD’”) and Part 2 (“Who Owns Your Black Box Data? An Overview of U.S. EDR Laws and Regulations”) of this series.
Posted April 25, 2022
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