Europa is al langer bezig met verplichte digitalisering van voertuigen. Vanaf 1 april 2018 moeten alle voertuigen met het digitale eCall systeem zijn uitgerust. De inkt van de eCall regels was nog niet droog, of Europa komt al weer met iets nieuws.

Voor het gemak noem ik het voorstel eCall 2. De bestuurder moet volgens de plannen op digitale wijze bij de les worden gehouden. De samenvatting luidt:

1. For cars, vans, trucks and buses: warning of driver drowsiness and distraction (e.g. smartphone use while driving), intelligent speed assistance, reversing safety with camera or sensors, and data recorder in case of an accident (‘black box’).
2. For cars and vans: lane-keeping assistance, advanced emergency braking, and crash-test improved safety belts.
3. For trucks and buses: specific requirements to improve the direct vision of bus and truck drivers and to remove blind spots, and systems at the front and side of the vehicle to detect and warn of vulnerable road users, especially when making turns.

Volgens het persbericht zou de besturingsassistentie (driving assistance) tot minder menselijke fouten leiden. Dat is wat verrassend nu ik uit de artikelen over zelfrijdende auto’s afleid dat daarmee nog veel mis gaat. Is dit digitale naïviteit van Europa geïnspireerd door data hongerige autofabrikanten?

Privacy en cybersecurity
Over privacy en cybersecurity wordt in de persberichten niet gerept. Dat suggereert dat de data “binnen” de auto blijven en niet met fabrikanten of derden worden gedeeld. Uit een eerste blik op de documenten kon ik niet afleiden met wie welke gegevens worden uitgewisseld.

In de concept verordening komt “privacy” maar één keer voor, in een passage waarin staat dat de privacy- en databeschermingsregels moeten worden nageleefd, zonder “handjes en voetjes”. “Data protection” komt op meer pagina’s voor, onder meer op pagina 10, zonder dat wordt vermeld waar de data heen gaan. Opnieuw wordt naleving van de AVG beleden. Verwacht mag worden dat dit soort digitale systemen door de fabrikanten worden onderhouden, zodat er een intensieve data-uitwisseling met de fabrikanten gaat plaats vinden.

Datalekken op wielen
Dat over security zo weinig wordt gesproken is bijzonder, want de huidige ‘intelligente’ auto’s zijn rijdende datalekken, zo blijkt uit diverse artikelen, zoals uit het artikel in het FD van 2 april 2019, “Stortvloed aan data van automobilist naar fabrikant en derde partijen“. Uit het artikel blijkt dat de auto-fabrikanten de privacywet de Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming (AVG) niet naleven. Dat is niet nieuw want de ANWB is al langer bezig met het datagraaien van autofabrikanten.

Fabrikant Tesla kwam eind maart in het nieuws omdat de boordcomputer vele data onversleuteld opsloeg. Lees bijvoorbeeld het artikel bij Golem.de, 30 maart 2019 en een bericht op NU.nl van 31 maart jl. (maar het datalek kan al plaats vinden vóór de auto een wrak is).

Tot slot
Een prettige, maar niet genoemde bijkomstigheid is dat via deze systemen ook terroristen kunnen worden opgespoord, als de gegevens met de overheden worden gedeeld.
Geruststellend is verder dat je als mens je hersens en intuïtie niet meer hoeft te gebruiken. De overgang naar het robot-zijn wordt daarmee verlicht.

Meer informatie:

• Persbericht Europese Commissie 26 maart 2019, “Road safety: Commission welcomes agreement on new EU rules to help save lives“; pdf-versie.
• Persbericht Europees Parlement 26 maart 2019, “Safer roads: EU lawmakers agree on life-saving technologies for new vehicles“.
• (Europa) Concept verordening; procedure overzicht bij het Europees Parlement.
• (Europa) New safety features in your car (pdf).
• Artikel Tweakers: “Zwarte doos en ‘snelheidsassistent’ zijn per mei 2022 verplicht in auto’s in EU“, 26 maart 2019. Na het artikel volgen vele reacties.
• Eerdere berichten op dit blog over eCall en de slimme auto.

Complete lijst van verplichte voorzieningen:

• Advanced emergency braking (cars, vans)
• Alcohol interlock installation facilitation (cars, vans, trucks, buses)
• Drowsiness and attention detection (cars, vans, trucks, buses)
• Distraction recognition / prevention (cars, vans, trucks, buses)
• Event (accident) data recorder (cars, vans, trucks, buses)
• Emergency stop signal (cars, vans, trucks, buses)
• Full-width frontal occupant protection crash test – improved seatbelts (cars and vans)
• Head impact zone enlargement for pedestrians and cyclists -safety glass in case of crash (cars and vans)
• Intelligent speed assistance (cars, vans, trucks, buses)
• Lane keeping assist (cars, vans)
• Pole side impact occupant protection (cars, vans)
• Reversing camera or detection system (cars, vans, trucks, buses)
• Tyre pressure monitoring system (vans, trucks, buses)
• Vulnerable road user detection and warning on front and side of vehicle (trucks and buses)
• Vulnerable road user improved direct vision from driver’s position (trucks and buses)

Het persbericht:

Road safety: Commission welcomes agreement on new EU rules to help save lives
Brussels, 26 March 2019

The EU institutions have reached a provisional political agreement on the revised General Safety Regulation. As of 2022 new safety technologies will become mandatory in European vehicles to protect passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.
New technologies on the market can help reduce the number of fatalities and injuries on our roads, 90% of which are due to human error. In May 2018, the Commission proposed to make certain vehicle safety measures mandatory, including systems that reduce the dangerous blind spots on trucks and buses and technology that warns the driver in case of drowsiness or distraction. Advanced safety features will reduce the number of accidents, pave the way towards increasingly connected and automated mobility, and boost the global innovation and competitiveness edge of the European car industry.

Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: “Every year, 25,000 people lose their lives on our roads. The vast majority of these accidents are caused by human error. We can and must act to change this. With the new advanced safety features that will become mandatory, we can have the same kind of impact as when the safety belts were first introduced. Many of the new features already exist, in particular in high–end vehicles. Now we raise the safety level across the board, and pave the way for connected and automated mobility of the future.”

The new mandatory safety features include (see full list here):
1. For cars, vans, trucks and buses: warning of driver drowsiness and distraction (e.g. smartphone use while driving), intelligent speed assistance, reversing safety with camera or sensors, and data recorder in case of an accident (‘black box’).
2. For cars and vans: lane-keeping assistance, advanced emergency braking, and crash-test improved safety belts.
3. For trucks and buses: specific requirements to improve the direct vision of bus and truck drivers and to remove blind spots, and systems at the front and side of the vehicle to detect and warn of vulnerable road users, especially when making turns.

The Commission expects that the proposed measures will help save over 25,000 lives and avoid at least 140,000 serious injuries by 2038. This will contribute to the EU’s long-term goal of moving close to zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 (“Vision Zero”).
In addition to protecting people on European roads, the new advanced safety features will help drivers get gradually used to the new driving assistance. Increasing degrees of automation offer significant potential to compensate for human errors and offer new mobility solutions for the elderly and physically impaired. All this should enhance public trust and acceptance of automated cars, supporting the transition towards autonomous driving.

Next steps
The political agreement reached by the European Parliament, Council and Commission in so-called trilogue negotiations is now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and Council.The new safety features will become mandatory from 2022, with the exception of direct vision for trucks and buses and enlarged head impact zone on cars and vans, which will follow later due to the necessary structural design changes.

Background
In recent years, the EU has introduced a range of mandatory measures, which contributed to an estimated reduction of 50,000 fatal traffic casualties per year. These measures include electronic stability control systems on all vehicles, as well as advanced emergency braking systems and lane departure warning systems on trucks and buses.
In 2017, the Commission launched a public consultation to gather stakeholder views on potential improvements to current vehicle safety measures. In May 2018, the Commission then proposed a review of the General Safety Regulation and the Pedestrian Safety Regulation, under the Third “Europe on the Move” set of actions. The revised General Safety Regulation goes hand in hand with an efficient safety management of road infrastructure, where the Commission’s proposal was agreed in February 2019.

The Commission also presented a Communication on Connected and Automated Mobility to make Europe a world leader for autonomous and safe mobility systems. As a first deliverable for connected mobility the Commission had adopted new rules that step up the deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) on Europe’s roads. C-ITS allow vehicles to ‘talk’ to each other, to the road infrastructure, and to other road users – for instance about dangerous situations, road works and the timing of traffic lights, making road transport safer, cleaner and more efficient.

For more information
• Press release: Third ‘Europe on the Move’ package
• Questions & Answers: Third ‘Europe on the Move’ package
• Factsheet: Safe Mobility
• Factsheet: Connected & Automated Mobility
• Visual: All new safety features in an overview
• Website: Safety in the automotive sector

Aanvulling 12 april 2019
Over de ‘slimme’ auto gaat ook dit bericht bij de VPRO. Bij het Europees parlement verscheen op 11 april dit bericht: “General safety of vehicles and protection of vulnerable road users“, er wordt verwezen naar deze briefing (pdf). Ook hier zie ik niets over bij wie alle persoonsgegevens die de intelligente systemen verzamelen terecht komen.

Aanvulling 3 mei 2019
Zie ook “Fahrzeug-Blackbox: Wenn dein Auto gegen dich aussagt“, Netzpolitik 6 april 2019.