On November 4, 2026, the European Parliament’s Environment, Internal Market, and Transport Committees adopted their Report (the “Joint Committee Report”) on the European Commission’s Automotive Omnibus proposal. Among other things, the Joint Committee Report proposes to introduce EU-wide rules to facilitate testing and deployment of automated vehicles and automated driving systems (“ADS”).
The Automotive Omnibus is an EU regulatory simplification package designed to reduce compliance burdens on the automotive sector while maintaining safety and environmental standards. It includes proposals covering Euro 7 testing, electric vans, vehicle noise, EV charging and grid interoperability, and small, affordable electric vehicles.
As discussed in our previous overview of EU and UK regulatory developments relating to automated vehicles, EU rules already harmonize important aspects of vehicle type-approval. However, the conditions for testing and deploying automated vehicles on public roads remain subject to national-level frameworks. To address this fragmentation, the Joint Committee Report proposes to introduce measures aimed at harmonizing certain aspects of testing and deployment of automated vehicles and ADS. These measures would complement the new UNECE regulatory framework for ADS, discussed in our previous post.
Mutual recognition of national-level authorizations for testing and deployment of automated vehicles
The Joint Committee Report proposes two types of mutual recognition:
- An authorization granted by one Member State for the testing or commercial deployment of automated and fully automated vehicles on public roads would be recognized throughout the EU; and
- Where two or more Member States establish a cross-border testbed for ADS, an authorization granted by one participating Member State would be automatically recognized by the other participating Member States.
In June 2026, 18 Member States signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on large-scale cross-border testbeds for autonomous vehicles, which this amendment would facilitate.
For both types of mutual recognition, a Member State may object to the recognition only on road safety grounds, and only within 30 working days of being notified about the authorization. Absent an objection, the authorization would be recognized automatically.
Note, however, that mutual recognition would not cover the provision of commercial passenger transport services (e.g., robotaxi services). Such services would still be subject to applicable national, regional, and local passenger transport frameworks.
Adapting the EU type-approval framework to automated vehicles
The Joint Committee Report also proposes two adaptations to the EU type-approval framework for automated vehicles.
First, manufacturers would be allowed to apply to Member State authorities for an “intermediate type-approval” for fully automated vehicles intended for commercial pre-deployment for the purpose of continued real-world validation of the ADS. Approval would be valid across the EU and granted for three-year terms and subject to quantitative annual limits, in-use monitoring, and other conditions. This intermediate type-approval would be part of the existing small-series framework under Article 41 of Regulation (EU) 2018/858.
Second, manufacturers would be allowed to apply for a “base-stage EU type approval” of the hardware components of a vehicle as “ADS-ready” base vehicles. This would enable a vehicle’s hardware components to be assessed independently of the ADS software, to be integrated at a subsequent stage. The manufacturer would later need to seek final-stage EU type-approval covering the integration of both the software and hardware elements of the automated vehicle.
The Commission would be empowered to adopt delegated acts to establish the minimum hardware requirements for these ADS-ready base vehicles, including sensor coverage and computing platform standards. The Joint Committee Report also foresees such delegated acts specifying standardized software-hardware interface specifications for integrating ADS software with base vehicles to ensure interoperability between systems from different manufacturers.
Next Steps
There is growing political momentum at EU level to adapt the regulatory framework for automated driving systems (ADS). The specific ADS measures in the Joint Committee Report were introduced by the Parliament and did not form part of the Commission’s original Automotive Omnibus proposal. The Commission had, however, already pointed to developments in automated driving and software updates as reasons to assess the scope for simplifying the EU vehicle type-approval framework under Regulation (EU) 2018/858. The main political question is which of Parliament’s proposed ADS measures the Council will be prepared to support as part of the Automotive Omnibus.
Parliament’s plenary is tentatively scheduled to vote on its negotiating mandate in mid-December 2026. The Council is still developing its own position (known as a “General Approach”). Once both institutions have a position, “trilogue” negotiations between Council, Parliament, and Commission can begin, likely in early 2027.
Covington’s integrated EU public policy and regulatory team continues to track the Automotive Omnibus. We combine legal, policy, and political expertise to advise automotive and autonomous vehicle companies on the regulatory, product liability, data, and cybersecurity questions that automated driving raises, and to help them engage in the EU legislative process.
This blog was written with the assistance of Arthur Crisci, an intern in our Brussels office.
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