Autonomous vehicle

The automated vehicle (AV) is developing rapidly, moving from a stage of technological promise to stages of scaled commercial applications, integrated into a regulatory and infrastructure framework.

International progress

At the international level, the UN standardization bodies (UNECE) are promoting autonomous vehicle regulation. In 2025, WP.29 adopted a new regulation (ELKS) and focused on developing a UN GTR regulation for the management of autonomous driving systems (ADS) UNECE . In addition, Regulation 157 (ALKS) for automated driving on roads was initially introduced in 2021, entered into force in the European Union in early 2022, and subsequently expanded the speed and lane-changing capabilities AUTOCRYPT Wikipedia . In the United States, the Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) introduced a new regulatory framework (AV Framework and AV STEP) in 2024–2025, which aims to streamline exemptions from traditional safety levers and improve transparency and reporting in AV companies The Verge Environmental and Energy Brief AASHTO Journal NHTSA