G7 Transport Ministers' Development and Widespread Utilization of Advanced Technology for Vehicles and Roads

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G7 Transport Ministers' Meeting Declaration:
Development and Widespread Utilization of Advanced Technology for Vehicles and Roads

Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan, September 24, 2016
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We, the G7 Ministers of Transport and the European Commissioner for Transport, share the view that embedding advanced technologies for vehicles and roads into concepts for sustainable mobility will have a significant role in innovating and transforming road traffic, mobility, industry, and society at large.

We especially recognize that practical application of automated and connected vehicles as well as related ITS technologies including for buses and trucks have the potential to contribute not only to a reduction in quantity and scale of traffic accidents, but also to reduce traffic congestion, improve efficiencies including logistics, reduce environmental and health impacts, alleviate driver burdens and expand opportunities (in particular for women, in line with the G7 Ise-Shima Leaders' Declaration). These technologies are also expected to improve the mobility and accessibility of transport by facilitating integration across transport modes and providing other transportation options, particularly for the elderly and persons with reduced mobility, or for those living in remote or underpopulated areas. With these possibilities and expectations in mind, we express our determination to realize the safest and the most reliable and inclusive road traffic society in the world by promoting the use of these new technologies.

We will cooperate with each other and exercise leadership to support the early commercialization of automated and connected vehicle technologies. At the same time, we share the view that it is important for the government, industry and academia to work together to support the safe and effective deployment of automated and connected vehicle technologies.

At the last G7 Transport Ministerial Meeting, we recognized issues related to promoting international standardization, ensuring data protection and cyber security, addressing legal aspects and enabling the coordination of research concerning automated and connected driving.

We welcome the current progress in the discussion of these issues in the G7 Transport Working Group, and confirm progress in approaching these issues in the UN Economic Commission for Europe.

We share the view that we will share our interests and collaborate in research and development of automated and connected vehicle technologies, in order to avoid duplication and to improve road safety as well as efficiency and environmental performance of our respective transportation systems. We underline the special importance of research issues in the areas of human-machine interface, infrastructure and social acceptance. In order to achieve our goals we decide to establish a working group to further elaborate on these topics. The outcome should form the basis for well- designed and globally harmonized future looking regulations and other measures.

We concur on the necessity of providing guidance to manufacturers and adopting other measures to ensure safe real world testing and deployment of automated and connected vehicles. Manufacturers and other entities testing vehicles for potential widespread use would benefit from a broadly applicable approach to defining criteria and requirements for testing and deploying these vehicles. We seek to share best practices and lessons learned from testing with an eye to taking a more harmonized approach to real world testing of automated and connected vehicles.

We share the view that any potential future regulatory framework for automated and connected driving technologies must promote innovation to allow them to evolve and improve. The framework must also improve road safety and environmental performance and meet consumer needs, while also promoting interoperability across borders.

In the interest of promoting innovation, we commit to seek to remove potential regulatory barriers to automated and connected driving technologies, as appropriate, at the domestic or international level, such as at the World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations. In view of the need to preserve opportunities for innovation while advancing road safety, we commit to intensify our efforts to develop, when and where appropriate, well-designed and globally harmonized future looking regulations and other measures, based on sound science and evidence.

Concerning cyber security and data protection, which are critical in the broader issue of data processing and access, we recognize a necessity for the timely development and regular updating of guidelines and other measures to prevent unauthorized access to vehicles and infrastructure and protect the privacy of individuals and their personal data. With regard to access to vehicle data, we recognize the potential value of data sharing but are mindful of the careful balance that needs to be struck in fashioning policy that guards data security and personal privacy, ensures safety, and encourages innovation and competition. We share the view that we should coordinate on these issues amongst G7 members in the context of our respective legal and policy environments.

We also recognize the importance of managing the spectrum to ensure the interference-free safety communication needed for the safe deployment and operation of automated and connected vehicles.

We recognize the necessity to develop deployment strategies which maximize the benefit of automated and connected driving under conditions of mixed traffic. We also recognize the need to share these strategies in order to promote reliability, interoperability and adoption by consumers.

Acknowledging the importance of utilizing ITS technology, such as vehicle-to- infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication, including use of probe data and effective measures for the prevention of safety critical road incidents, for example, wrong-way driving on a motorway, we share the view to share information and promote the development and deployment of these technologies in order to realize a safer, more reliable and more efficient, sustainable and integrated transportation system.

The dissemination of not only automated and connected driving technologies but also low-or zero-emission vehicles, including their full integration within the overall transport and energy systems, is important in order to achieve the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement addressing the urgent issue of climate change. We share the view to lead the world in working to promote further deployment of next-generation vehicles such as fuel-cell vehicles utilizing hydrogen energy, battery-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and natural gas vehicles, in view of their respective advantages and characteristics, with the aim of addressing global and local environmental, pollution and energy problems. We welcome the cooperative initiatives under the Lima Paris Action Agenda in this regard.

We welcome the intention of forthcoming Italian Presidency of the G7 to convene a Transport Ministers' Meeting in 2017.

Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan

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