The first self-driving car may appear on the Hungarian roads next year

The first law may be born next year which – in case of specific circumstances – allow self-driving vehicles to participate in the vehicular traffic in Hungary – said István Lepsényi, Minister of Ministry for National Economy to InfoRádió.

Many phases of M7 freeway will be transformed into test tracks for self-driving vehicles, moreover, part of Zalaegerszeg, too, connected to the soon-established closed test track in Zala county – said László Palkovics, Minister of Ministry for Education. The reason is simple: the examination of autonomous cars cannot be limited to only areas closed from the traffic.

“The testing of self-driving vehicles happens in two ways. On the one hand, they are tested in real vehicular circumstances to see how the vehicle behaves in different situations and for that phases of the freeways will be chosen in the first place, where all the other drivers are warned that there may be self-driving cars on the road. This is a controlled experience done within vehicular circumstances” – said István Lepsényi, Minister for Ministry of National Economy, to InfoRádio.

The other part will take place on the test track in Zalaegerszeg where repeatable examinations are done in controlled circumstances. At the end of this process the authority can release the type-approval certificate of self-driving vehicles, which allow them to run on a permitted way.

For this the laws also must be changed, because the current “Vienna Arbitration” says that every vehicle must possess a driver and the driver must be able to intervene and take control of the vehicle.

“Obviously this is not possible in the case of the self-driving vehicles, therefore many serious questions have to be clarified. For example: who is responsible when the autonomous vehicle causes an accident” – indicated the Minister the main problem.

According to István Lepsényi, it will not take long to create the legal background; he thinks that the law that allows self-driving vehicles to run on the Hungarian roads with specific circumstances will appear in the first quarter of 2017.

“The law will specify the circumstances in which the vehicles can enter the roads. While the drivers must sit in the driver seats they will be allowed to take their hands off the steering wheel and let the vehicle take control” – said István Lepsényi.

Copy editor: bm

Source: InfoRádió