The two-day conference gathers industrialists, researchers and representatives of governmental bodies engaged in road safety to carry on a cross-examination on how human factors are taken into consideration when developing automated driving aids. They also focus on how road safety policies can accompany these developments.

During the opening session, Jean Todt intervened along with key speakers such as Emmanuel Barbe, French interministerial delegate for Road Safety, Lyne Vezina, Director of research and development in Road Safety in the “Société de l’Assurance automobile” of Quebec, Laurence Leroy, Road Safety Director at “Bruxelles Mobilité”, Dominique Mignot, “Transport, Health, Safety” Department at Ifsttar, Marie-Claude Ouimet, Professor at the University of Sherbrooke, Joël Valmain, Technical advisor “Europe-International” in the French Interministerial Delegation for Road Safety.

“Recent studies indicate that, by 2020, 250 million connected vehicles will be on the roads. The FIA, which represents more than 80 million motorists in more than 140 countries around the world through its network of clubs, is closely monitoring this change and accompanying road users in this field” declared FIA President. He also highlighted that road users will only be convinced by automated mobility provided that safety is ensured and that a clear and efficient corpus of laws providing strong safeguards for data protection is adopted in countries where such technologies are deployed. “A phase of robust testing is an essential prerequisite for the ‘autonomous revolution’ ”, he further stated.

Also serving as UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Todt recognised the important role that these new technologies could play in the reduction of deaths on the road. As a final remark, he reminded that road safety must, however, already be a top priority on the political agenda : “I encourage public transport agencies, non-governmental organizations, industry and governments to take action now to reduce the number of victims on the road all over the world and to do so without waiting for the development of new technologies”.