A barrier to innovation: Europe’s ad-hoc cross-border framework for testing prototype autonomous vehicles

The conglomeration of regulatory frameworks for the testing of prototype autonomous vehicles in Europe creates a challenging task for developers and researchers planning pilots across borders. While there are examples of international autonomous driving projects and cooperation in autonomous vehicle research, Europe lacks a mutually recognised testing procedure for autonomous vehicle pilots, and incompatible legal and administrative processes in each country creates a disincentive for ambitious cross-border testing. The diverse climate and topography of Europe potentially provides a rigorous testing ground for autonomous vehicles, and an opportunity to prepare the new technology to deal with varied signage, language and driver behaviour encountered when travelling across multiple countries. Prototype vehicles tested in such conditions provide valuable insight for research and product development. This may be encouraged by a more harmonised prototype testing framework including a pan-European type-approval exemption scheme for prototype vehicles, and for cross-border tests to be coordinated by regional organisations interested in promoting development in border areas.