September the 21st, 2024 – The Croatian Interior Ministry (MUP) is busy preparing and altering traffic rules as the introduction of Rimac autonomous vehicles looms.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, cameras placed inside the upcoming Rimac autonomous vehicles will record how it behaves on the road, and the footage will only be stored when the car’s Event Data Recorder (EDR) is activated.
The Ministry of the Interior (MUP) recently sent amendments to the Law on Road Safety out to public consultation. Those amendments aim to ensure that “automated vehicles participate safely and smoothly in road traffic, as well as during system testing in real road traffic conditions”. In other words, the changes to the law, which are proposed to be adopted under an urgent procedure, are being made to allow the Rimac autonomous vehicles, which will be taxis, to take to the roads, reports tportal.
In the explanation of the law, MUP has stated that “fully automated vehicles bring numerous advantages that can significantly affect society, the economy and everyday life, especially in terms of road safety”. They believe that “fully automated vehicles can reduce the number of traffic accidents that are the result of human errors, such as inattention, fatigue or driving under the influence of alcohol”.
In addition to defining and introducing terms that haven’t been prescribed so far, such as what an automated vehicle actually is defined as, the law stipulates that such vehicles can only operate within approved areas and must be visibly marked.
Naturally, MUP has also had to think about potential penalties and fines regarding the Rimac autonomous vehicles. It’s currently foreseen that the owner of such a vehicle operating outside of previously approved limits can be fined from 10,000 to a staggering 132,000 euros. If such a violation is repeated, the vehicle will be removed by the authorities.
If a Rimac autonomous vehicle isn’t properly marked as being automated, fines ranging from 5 to 15,000 euros are prescribed. If other road users somehow interfere with the automated vehicle in such a way that it has to take an action that it wouldn’t normally do, the involved persons will be fined anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 euros.
