EurActiv.com, May 17, 2016 -- Car industry lobbyists are complaining that in-house divisions at the European Commission are delaying technologies like driverless cars from getting onto European streets.

“We see too many cooks in the kitchen,” Erik Jonnaert, secretary general of the European car industry lobby group ACEA, said at a Brussels conferences yesterday (17 May).

“On this subject one could ask the question, ‘Who do I call within the Commission?’ and at the moment there are different people to call,” Jonnaert said of the EU executive’s splintered efforts to boost driverless vehicles and car functions with internet connection.

Jonnaert shared a panel on connected vehicles with high-ranking Commission officials from three different directorate generals ― DG Move (transport), DG Grow (single market) and DG Connect (digital). The three departments are all doing legwork for potential new legislation on driverless and connected cars.

A group of car manufacturers, consumer groups and government officials started meeting this January to come up with guidelines for new EU rules on driverless cars. DG Move is hosting the group.

But the car industry warned that piecemeal regulation of specific issues will not be enough to help European companies produce driverless cars quickly.

“We have a tendency in Europe that when we have safety issues in mobility we adopt a safety directive and when we have emissions issues we adopt an emissions directive,” Jonnaert said.

“Is this not the golden opportunity we’ve all been waiting for to come up with a new horizontal regulatory approach?” he wondered.

Read the rest of the story HERE: http://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/car-industry-frustrated-by-eu-disorganisation-on-driverless-vehicles/