Washington, D.C. Auto Show President Calls for New Global Autonomous Driving Standards Organization

BEIJING, April 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Washington, D.C. Auto Show President and Chief Executive Officer John O'Donnell, in a speech today in Beijing, highlighted the lack of meaningful standards for autonomous vehicles and proposed the creation of a worldwide advocacy group comprised of members from six major auto making countries. He recommended the group be named the Global Autonomous Vehicle Engineering Organization, or GAVEO (pronounced gah-vay-oh) which would create and promote the use of a single set of engineering standards to be used by autonomous vehicle manufacturers worldwide.

Speaking at the China–U.S. Automotive Summit held today in Beijing before the Beijing Motor Show, O'Donnell said the lack of consistent standards has hampered development and that immediate action is needed to ensure that self-driving technology moves forward both safety and quickly around the world.

"The time for GAVEO is now, while the autonomous industry is still in its relative infancy," O'Donnell said. "Standardization will make vehicles safer and greatly benefit the consumers who will eventually buy, own and operate self-driving vehicles, while creating stability for automakers, technology companies, and government leaders around the world," he told the conference.

O'Donnell said the organization should include a multinational board of engineers from countries where major automakers are headquartered including China, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with the mission of creating a single set of engineering standards for autonomous vehicles worldwide. Countries could then use the standards to create regulations appropriate to their requirements.

O'Donnell noted that such global organizations are common in other areas of technology to create worldwide standards.

About the Washington, D.C. Auto Show
The Washington, D.C. Auto Show is rated as one of the five top auto shows in the United States and is the largest indoor consumer event in the District of Columbia. The 2019 Washington Auto Show will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and will be open to the public for 10 consecutive days beginning April 5, 2019. The public show will be preceded by MobilityTalks International on April 2-3, and press day April 4.

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SOURCE The Washington Auto Show