A Global Regulatory Breakthrough for Assisted and Automated Driving

For assisted and automated driving to scale globally, technical capability alone is not enough. At Wayve, we believe that building safe, scalable autonomy requires not only technical innovation, but also the hard, long-term work of shaping the global regulatory foundations that allow this technology to be deployed responsibly and consistently worldwide.

For years, Wayve has been collaborating with global regulatory stakeholders at the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to help develop the first comprehensive global framework to regulate automated driving systems. That work reached a major milestone at the 24th session of the UNECE’s Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA), where two landmark regulations were formally adopted. 

Together, they establish globally aligned regulatory pathways and safety standards for advanced driver assistance and automated driving systems. This sets the safety standard for all manufacturers and unlocks an approval route through which Wayve’s AI-powered AV2.0 driving technology can be deployed responsibly to consumers in Europe and beyond.

Why global alignment matters

For many years, progress in assisted and automated driving has been constrained by fragmented regulation and inconsistent safety standards. This fragmentation increases development cost, limits scale and risks confusing consumers about how and when systems should be used.

Highly advanced assistance and automated technologies require clarity not only on what systems can do, but on how they should be regulated for safe use. Without harmonised global regulations, manufacturers are forced into market-specific designs and consumers face inconsistent experiences that undermine trust.

The newly adopted regulatory frameworks address this challenge directly by providing:

• Internationally aligned approval pathways and safety standards that all manufacturers must meet
• Support for global vehicle platforms rather than small-scale, market-specific deployments
• High safety expectations through evidence-based, outcome-focused requirements that remain technology-agnostic 

For vehicle manufacturers, this clarity creates certainty and scale. For investors, it reduces regulatory risk. For consumers, it enables safer and more predictable use of assisted and automated driving technologies. At Wayve, we believe clear technical regulation is not separate from safety. It is a core part of ensuring these technologies are deployed responsibly at scale.

Delegates from UNECE GRVA meeting in September 2025 seen below.

What was adopted and why it matters  

Automated driving systems

For the first time, technical regulations governing Automated Driving Systems (ADS) have been adopted globally, covering SAE Levels 3 and 4. Two corresponding regulations were agreed upon: 

• A UN regulation for type approval, applied in markets such as Europe, Japan and the UK
• A Global Technical Regulation (GTR), which can be applied by self-certification markets, such as the USA and Canada 

Together, these regulations create a globally harmonised safety framework for automated driving. Manufacturers can now build to a common set of internationally agreed safety requirements, supported by aligned approval routes across major automotive markets. The framework takes an outcome-focused, evidence-based approach. Rather than prescribing how systems must be built, it requires manufacturers to demonstrate through a safety case that their automated driving system, in principle, performs at least as safely as a competent and careful human driver.

This approach is explicitly technology-agnostic. It supports both rule-based systems and next-generation, end-to-end learning architectures, ensuring the framework enables AV2.0 rather than constraining it. The UN GTR for ADS, developed in parallel, defines aligned technical safety principles to ensure consistency between type approval and self-certification markets. 

Advanced driving assistance 

Alongside automated driving, a major update was adopted for advanced driver assistance systems. The latest series of UN Reg 171, commonly known as DCAS Phase 3, governs Driver Control Assistance Systems. The newly adopted 02 series significantly expands the range of permitted functionality in type approval markets.

For the first time, DCAS systems may perform system-initiated manoeuvres such as lane changes, navigating roundabouts, or pulling away from junctions in urban environments. When strict driver monitoring and engagement requirements are met, hands-off driving on highways is also permitted. These expanded capabilities are accompanied by enhanced requirements for driver monitoring, engagement and vehicle controllability, ensuring drivers remain responsible for the driving task and can take control at any time. This moves advanced driver assistance beyond narrow highway-only use cases and enables more natural point-to-point support while maintaining a high and consistent safety standard.

From 2027, this regulation will apply across Europe, Japan, the UK and other type-approval markets, setting a new benchmark for safe and consistent driver assistance.

Automation levels and global deployment, simplified

These regulatory developments span a range of automation capabilities, from advanced driver assistance to automated driving. Automation levels describe how much of the driving task a vehicle can perform, from assisted features such as adaptive cruise control to systems capable of driving without human intervention. Industry commonly refers to these capabilities using the SAE Levels of Automation.

Wayve is developing an AI driving intelligence that can be curated across multiple assistance and automation levels, from advanced assistance (SAE Level 2) to automated driving (SAE Levels 3 and 4). Each level requires distinct safety standards and regulatory approval before deployment to consumers.

For automated driving, the newly adopted UN Regulations and Global Technical Regulations address this gap by providing a common global foundation for both type-approval and self-certification markets.

Type approval vs self certification 

In type approval markets such as Europe, Japan and the UK, vehicles are approved against internationally developed UN Regulations, with approvals recognised across multiple countries. This allows manufacturers to build to a common safety standard and access global markets, while ensuring consumers experience these systems consistently across regions. For highly automated technologies, this consistency is essential for safe use and public trust.

In self-certification markets such as the United States and Canada, manufacturers demonstrate compliance with aligned Global Technical Regulations or federal standards such as FMVSS.

Together, these frameworks serve as a global passport for deployment, enabling manufacturers to build once and meet shared safety expectations across regions. Until now, such globally aligned frameworks have not existed for the most advanced automation technologies. Their adoption is a critical step toward enabling safe, scalable and responsible deployment to consumers.

Wayve’s role in shaping the global framework

Wayve’s approach to autonomy is built on learning-based, end-to-end AI that generalises across environments rather than relying on hand-engineered rules or high-definition maps. From the outset, we recognised that for this approach to deploy globally, regulation would need to evolve alongside the technology.

Wayve has been embedded in the UNECE throughout the development of these regulations, working closely with global regulators and the automotive industry to help define evidence-based, outcome-focused requirements that remain technology-agnostic across both AV1.0 and AV2.0 systems. This ensures safety standards are grounded in real-world performance rather than specific system architectures, while maintaining a consistently high bar for consumer safety.

Wayve has contributed to this effort as:

• Co-secretary of the UN Task Force on ADAS
• Industry co-pilot in the Informal Working Group on ADS
• Industry co-pilot in the Informal Working Group on Data Storage Systems for Automated Driving (DSSAD)

Through this collaboration, Wayve has helped shape regulatory frameworks designed to enable the safe deployment of next-generation driving assistance and automation at scale.

Looking ahead

After years of technical collaboration and regulatory groundwork, the global path forward for assisted and automated driving has reached an important milestone. With clear, globally aligned rules now in place, the conditions are set for responsible deployment at scale.

Wayve is proud to have helped shape these frameworks and to be building the technology they are designed to enable.