Fully autonomous cars are still years away, but the UN is working on internationally-agreed rules that will see “globally harmonised regulation on automated driving systems ready for mid-2026”.

The UN World Forum for the Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations is a working party of the Inland Transport Committee of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which shapes the legal framework for inland transport.

The forum has six permanent working parties each with their own specialism, one of which is the Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA) working party.

UNECE held a press conference yesterday with speakers from GRVA, who presented international developments around regulating autonomous vehicles.

Dmitry Mariyasin, deputy executive secretary of the UNECE, opened the press conference by saying that it is difficult to move quickly on autonomous vehicles because of safety concerns.

“We need to have all pieces of the regulation in place before autonomous vehicles can be on the...