The Federal Council is giving a boost to automated driving. Autonomous cars will be able to drive on Swiss roads from March 1, 2025. This technology will be authorized in three cases, specifies an ordinance adopted this Friday by the authorities.
Drivers of automated vehicles will be allowed to use the system on the highway. They will be able to take their hands off the wheel and no longer constantly monitor the traffic and the vehicle. However, they must remain ready to take over driving the vehicle themselves at any time.
It will be permitted to use automated driving on sections authorized by the cantons. They can turn to the Confederation, which will issue instructions on the evaluation of the sections and set up a monitoring group.
Automated parking will also be permitted in car parks and in parking spaces defined and marked for this purpose. It will be up to the cantons or municipalities to determine these locations. Instructions and a monitoring group will be set up.
With this opening, the Federal Council hopes to improve road safety and streamline traffic. “Autonomous vehicles, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), aim to eliminate human error, the main cause of road accidents”, argued in 2023 Alexandre Alahi, assistant professor at EPFL, head from the VITA laboratory, Visual Intelligence for Transportation Laboratory.
The authorities also want to offer “new possibilities” for economic actors and various transport services. “The use of driverless vehicles could in particular be interesting for the transport of goods and for covering the “last mile” in the context of passenger transport,” specifies the government in a press release.
