From GE.3 to SUAT: UNECE shifts its focus to lawful ADS deployment

GE.3's mandate ended, but the questions remain

GE.3 was established to draft a new legal instrument on the use of automated vehicles in traffic. Its work covered the structure of a possible convention, the concept of the driver, remote driving, remote management and the relationship with the Vienna and Geneva Conventions on Road Traffic.

Its mandate ended in June 2025, and UNECE now lists the group as discontinued. This did not end the legal work on automated driving. GE.3's outputs became one of the starting points for a new line of work within WP.1.

Sources: UNECE: Main achievements — automated and connected vehicles · ECE/TRANS/2026/11 — 2025 draft annual report of the UNECE Sustainable Transport Division

What SUAT is

An informal working group within WP.1 adopted the name Safe Use of ADS in Traffic, or SUAT. Its Terms of Reference follow an Inland Transport Committee decision and task the group with identifying gaps and barriers to the safe and lawful deployment of ADS.

SUAT is to examine existing conventions and WP.1 resolutions, take account of GE.3's results and develop a consensus workplan. It does not start from scratch, but the central question has changed. The focus is no longer a single new convention. It is what is missing between technical regulation of the system and its use in real traffic.

Sources: ECE/TRANS/WP.1/193 — Report of the 91st session of WP.1 · WP.1 IWG-SUAT-03 — meeting documents · ECE/TRANS/2026/11 — 2025 draft annual report of the UNECE Sustainable Transport Division

What SUAT is working on

The first meetings in 2025 developed a workplan. The discussion progressively covered the boundary between driver assistance and ADS, the roles of the driver and fallback-ready user, tasks outside the dynamic driving task, cross-border use, interaction with police and emergency services, evidence of system status and enforcement.

Concrete national examples followed in 2026. Japan presented its Specified Automated Operation regime for Level 4 operation. Other materials addressed the DCAS–ADS boundary, California's permitting approach, remote human roles, human factors and public understanding of automation terminology.

At its nineteenth meeting on 26 August 2026, the group considered a draft ADS Deployment Matrix and regulatory definitions linked to the WP.29 proposal for a Global Technical Regulation on ADS. This interface may be decisive. WP.29 defines the system's technical identity and requirements. WP.1 and national law must determine where, when, by whom and under what conditions that system may be used.

Sources: ECE/TRANS/WP.1/195 — Report of the 92nd session of WP.1 · WP.1 IWG-SUAT-13 — meeting documents · WP.1 IWG-SUAT-19 — meeting documents · UNECE: 25th session of GRVA — draft UN Regulation and UN GTR on ADS

Why the shift matters

Debate about automated vehicles has often focused on whether an ADS can comply with traffic rules. SUAT exposes a broader problem. Before applying a particular rule, the system's regulatory identity, operational design domain, permitted deployment model and allocation of legal roles must be established.

Not every duty can be converted into vehicle behaviour. Someone must deal with a collision, communicate with authorities, secure the vehicle and perform other tasks outside the dynamic driving task. The law must therefore determine which duties belong to the ADS and which remain with an operator, user, remote driver, remote assistant or another actor.

From ROAT's perspective, this creates a regulatory deployment layer. It connects technical vehicle approval with permission for a specific operation, the ODD, human roles, traffic rules, evidence, enforcement and cross-border recognition.

What to watch next

The Deployment Matrix, regulatory definitions and SUAT meeting reports remain working materials. They should not be presented as an adopted WP.1 position or as applicable international law.

The next formal milestone is WP.1's 93rd session from 5 to 9 October 2026. The key question is what SUAT will submit to its parent body and whether WP.1 approves, notes or returns the outputs for further work. ROAT will follow the deployment matrix, regulatory definitions and the allocation of duties between the system and human actors.

Sources: WP.1 IWG-SUAT-19 — meeting documents · UNECE: 93rd session of WP.1, 5–9 October 2026

Continue exploring ROAT

• Legal question: vehicle approval and permission to operate
• Glossary of key ADS terms
• EU and UNECE profile