Brussels, 23 April 2018 – Today a broad industry coalition of independent after-market service providers, drivers, insurers and the tyre industry calls upon EU decision makers to act now to ensure a genuine digital level-playing field for remote access to in-vehicle data.

This call for action comes in advance of the Strategy on Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility, expected for 16th May and stresses the need for this Communication to set the pace for a future –urgently needed and too long awaited – legislative initiative.

The Coalition urges the European Commission to set a “robust regulatory framework for an interoperable, standardised, secure and safe on-board application platform”. The coalition also underlines that until such platform is in place, there is the need to guarantee a non-discriminatory access to the existing in-vehicle telematics systems used by vehicle manufacturers or their selected third parties.

“For the tyre industry having real-time access to in-vehicle data is first and foremost a question of safety. The more automated the vehicle, the more remote, seamless and deep diagnosis will be needed in a prognostic-oriented operation to guarantee safe operation of the vehicle under critical circumstances. This is why we believe that the proposed platform would be an essential safety feature of the vehicle in motion”, said Mrs Cinaralp, Secretary General of ETRMA. “The clock is ticking and connected mobility is no longer a dream of the future: we need a legislative action from the Commission and fast!”

The wishes of the Coalition were also supported, earlier this year, by a similar call from the European Parliament, who urged the Commission to publish a legislative proposal on access to in-vehicle data and resources. Indeed, the European Parliament is currently the Institution that is discussing access to data most proactively. This included a debate on cyber security for connected and automated vehicles in the Transport Committee of the European Parliament. On this occasion, Professor Massey, from the University of Colorado, reinforced the findings of the 2017 TRL study and stated that open design has long been recognised as a key asset of cyber security, dispelling the fears that an open platform, like the one demanded by this Coalition, could open the door to cyber attacks.

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Note to the editor:

The press release of the Coalition can be found at this link: https://bit.ly/2HpVky1

The Manifesto of the Coalition is available here: https://bit.ly/2HpvU7S

ETRMA’s position paper on connected and automate driving is available here: https://bit.ly/2qSeKof