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ECONOMY

How France is preparing for a future of driverless vehicles

While there won't be any batmobiles cruising the streets of Paris or Lyon any time soon, France has taken an important step in revising the legal framework for introducing autonomous cars onto the roads.

Published: 31 August 2022 12:26 CEST
How France is preparing for a future of driverless vehicles
A technician sits inside the experimental driverless autonomous shuttle near Indre, Central France on July 29, 2022. (Photo by GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP)

On Thursday, September 1st, a new set of laws goes into place governing the introduction of “Level 3” autonomous cars French roads. 

However, France is still a long way from allowing unmanned vehicles on the roads, and it is important to note that so far only one such semi-autonomous vehicle has been approved for use – the Mercedes S-Class. Several other manufacturers have also announced their plans to launch their own versions.

In France, cars are ranked on a scale of one through five based on their autonomy.

  • Level 0 means that the driver controls everything (ie a standard vehicle)
  • Level 1 allows for driving aids such as cruise control 
  • Level 2 allows for some automated tasks such as ParkAssist

Levels 0-2 are already legal on French roads.

Level 3 – which is legal from September 1st – encompasses ‘semi-autonomous vehicles’ which can operate either with a driver or automatically.

They can only be used in specific situations: on roads without pedestrians or cyclists, on roads with a lane divider (a median), and with speed limited to 60 km/h.

READ MORE: Fake laws: The real rules for driving in France you need to know

The update to the French legal framework will be important for future driverless cars, though. In case of an accident, if the autonomous driving system of the car is activated, the “driver” will not be able to be held responsible (as long as the conditions of use for the software were respected). Instead, it will be the manufacturer or the designer of the software who is held responsible.

For these Level 3 vehicles, motorists will be able to do some ‘hands-free’ driving in the above-outlined scenarios, and as a result of the updated law, it will be the manufacturer who is held responsible in case of an accident if ‘hands-free’ is activated. 

This will be also be important for level 4 (fully autonomous, though with a steering wheel) and 5 (autonomous without a steering wheel or pedals) – neither of these are yet legal on French roads. 

Fully driverless cars may still be in the distant future, but France has already been experimenting with some other automated types of transport. 

Buses and shuttles

The Paris Metro already has driverless trains on lines 1 and 14, and a project is underway to automatise line 4.

The RATP public transport operator also began experiments with autonomous buses in September 2021, with the goal of expanding these in the years to come.

While there will still be a person sitting at the wheel, they will not be the one operating the vehicle. The steering wheel, pedals, and breaks are all operated automatically. 

RATP tested the technology on line 393 in Sucy-Bonneuil, located near Paris. 

RATP’s director of innovations, Côme Berbain, told Le Figaro in September 2021 that “Regular commercial operation would begin at the earliest by 2025, and the launch still depends on many parameters.”

The city has also been working with the company Alstom since 2017 to develop an autonomous tramway. Experiments have taken place on the Vitry RATP maintenance and storage site.

More recently, several cities in France have tested autonomous shuttles – or navettes. 

Transport minister Clément Beaune, on a visit to a test site in Indre, called the project “pioneering” adding: “Let’s see in a few months what this experiment gives, to draw conclusions. But if it works, I will do everything I can to ensure that the State backs it.”

Olympic transport

Paris is also seeking out smart transportation ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games. The organisation ‘Urbanloop’ was one of 21 winning projects to offer transportation ideas for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

The ‘autonomous capsules’ have already been tested out in Nancy, as shown below. 

The project is described as the “deployment of fleets of autonomous capsules on rails that can carry one or two people, including people with reduced mobility or a person with a bicycle.”

These low-emissions capsules can travel at speeds of up to 60 km/h and are 100 percent electric, without batteries.

They are being hailed as a Metro alternative for small to medium sized cities. Prior to being officially put into use in Nancy in 2026, they will be tested during the 2024 Games.

The pilot project will link the entrance to the Montigny-le-Bretonneux Olympic site to a fan zone. The capsules will run on a two kilometre loop, which will serve two stations with 10 vehicles, allowing for a maximum flow of about 220 people per hour.

After the Olympics, public transportation in France is slated to become significantly more automatised, with some projections pointing to 13 percent of buses being autonomous by 2035. 

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The EU's new Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport controls is due to come into force later this year, but among many questions that remain is the situation for non-EU nationals who live in the EU or Schengen zone.

Published: 27 April 2024 07:59 CEST
Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

Currently scheduled to start in autumn 2024 (unless it’s delayed again, which is not unlikely) the EU’s new Entry & Exit System is basically an enhanced passport check at external EU borders, including a facial scan and fingerprinting.

You can find a full explanation of the new system HERE.

Travellers crossing an external EU or Schengen border for the first time will be required to complete EES ‘pre-registration’ formalities including that facial scan and fingerprinting.

There are, however, several groups exempt from EES and one of them is non-EU nationals who have a residency permit or long-stay visa for an EU country.

So if you’re a foreigner living in the EU or Schengen zone, here’s what you need to know.

Exempt

One of the stated aims of EES is to tighten up enforcement of over-staying – IE, people who stay longer than 90 days in every 180 without a visa, or those who overstay the limits of their visa.

Obviously these limits do not apply to non-EU nationals who are resident in the EU or Schengen zone, which is why this group is exempt from EES checks. They will instead be required to show their passport and residency permit/visa when crossing a border, just as they do now.

In its explanations of how EES will work, the European Commission is clear – exempt groups include non-EU residents of the Bloc.

A Commission spokesman told The Local: “Non-EU citizens residing in the EU are not in the scope of the EES and will not be subject to pre-enrollment of data in the EES via self-service systems. The use of automation remains under the responsibility of the Member States and its availability in border crossing points is not mandatory.

“When crossing the borders, holders of EU residence permits should be able to present to the border authorities their valid travel documents and residence permits.”

How this will work

How this will work on the ground, however, is a lot less clear.

Most ports/airports/terminals have two passport queues – EU and non-EU. It remains unclear whether the non-EU queue will have a separate section for those who are exempt from EES.

It does seem clear that exempt groups will not be able to use the automated passport scanners – since those cannot scan additional documents like residency permits – but should instead use manned passport booths. However it is not clear whether these will be available at all airports/ports/terminals or how non-EU residents of the EU will be directed to those services.

There’s also the issue that individual border guards are not always clear on the processes and rules for non-EU residents of the EU – even under the current system it’s relatively commonly for EU residents to have their passports incorrectly stamped or be given incorrect information about passport stamping by border guards.

Brits in particular will remember the immediate post-Brexit period when the processes as described by the EU and national authorities frequently did not match what was happening on the ground.

The Local will continue to try and get answers on these questions. 

READ ALSO What will EES mean for dual nationals

What if I live in the EU but I don’t have a visa/residency permit?

For most non-EU citizens, having either a visa or a residency permit is obligatory in order to be legally resident.

However, there is one exception: UK citizens who were legally resident in the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period and who live in one of the “declaratory” countries where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory. Declaratory countries include Germany and Italy.

Although it is legal for people in this situation to live in those countries without a residency permit, authorities already advise people to get one in order to avoid confusion/hassle/delays at the border. Although EES does not change any rules relating to residency or travel, it seems likely that it will be more hassle to travel without a residency card than it is now.

Our advice? Things are going to be chaotic enough, getting a residency permit seems likely to save you a considerable amount of hassle.

Delays 

Although residents of the EU do not need to complete EES formalities, they will be affected if the new system causes long queues or delays at the border.

Several countries have expressed worries about this, with the UK-France border a particular cause for concern.

READ ALSO Travellers could face ’14 hours queues’ at UK-France border

Where does it apply?

EES is about external EU/Schengen borders, so does not apply if you are travelling within the Schengen zone – eg taking the train from France to Germany or flying from Spain to Sweden.

Ireland and Cyprus, despite being in the EU, are not in the Schengen zone so will not be using EES, they will continue to stamp passports manually.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland – countries that are in the Schengen zone but not in the EU – will be using EES.

The full list of countries using EES is: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Therefore a journey between any of the countries listed above will not be covered by EES.

However a journey in or out of any of those countries from a country not listed above will be covered by EES.

You can find our full Q&A on EES HERE.

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