Highly automated driving offers the opportunity to make traffic safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. At the same time, Germany is creating a comprehensive network for intelligent mobility data management and for a fundamental mobility transformation with the Mobility Data Space. Independent and trustworthy data sharing and use are basic prerequisites for safe, highly automated traffic as well as for new mobility services and concepts that will make our cities and communities more livable in the long term.
However, new driver assistance systems, highly automated vehicles, and their networking with each other and with the infrastructure are also redefining vehicle testing: vehicle safety and environmental compatibility no longer depend solely on mechanical components, but increasingly on electronic and digitally networked components, as well as on respective software versions and AI algorithms. In this context, the "third party principle" remains substantial for the approval and monitoring of corresponding vehicles, even in the case of software testing and self-determined and non-discriminatory data access, and is thus a guarantor for road safety, consumer protection and fair market economy.
As a neutral body, an independent TrustCenter will facilitate trusting, unbureaucratic cooperation in data exchange between different players in the mobility sector. It will administer the necessary equal data access and thus contribute to solving existing challenges in vehicle type approval and testing of highly automated vehicles.
The following actions are necessary, according to the independent testing institutions:
- Non-discriminatory access to original vehicle data by the vehicle owner/user or by authorized third parties commissioned by him/her.
- Ensuring that authorities and testing institutions perform their sovereign tasks
- Definition of requirements for self-determined and fair access to vehicle data, taking data security and data protection into account
- Establishment of a manufacturer-independent body - a TrustCenter - for access to vehicle data for sovereign tasks and a Mobility Data Space.
The complete industry position can be found in the adjacent position paper.
