New IAMTS Chairman Aims for Global Harmony

Mr. Quernheim, since October 2024, you have been the new Chairman of the Board of the International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization (IAMTS). What is your mission as you take office?

I am very excited about this role. At IAMTS, we see ourselves as a bridge between industry stakeholders, regulators, approval and certification authorities, and standardization organizations—on a global scale. We serve as a platform for developing solutions to open questions that arise due to differing technological advancements in highly automated and autonomous driving across various regions.

As a representative of the TÜV Association, I feel particularly committed to ensuring the safety of systems operating on public roads. However, our role also includes making the approval and certification of these technologies manageable and scalable amid the rapid pace of technical development and increasingly short development and investment cycles.

One of my key priorities in the coming months is to expand our membership base in Asia and align our working groups and projects with the needs of our members. My vision for IAMTS is to contribute significantly to the harmonization and synchronization of regulations and testing methods across the global automotive markets.

Ensuring the safety of AI systems in mobility requires extensive collaboration. Where do you see the biggest challenges?

We are just at the beginning of the massive transformations that artificial intelligence will bring. When it comes to highly automated and autonomous driving, the primary challenge is to understand and track the impact of AI on these systems. The term currently under discussion is Traceable AI.

Without traceability, integrating AI into vehicles and incorporating it into the current approval philosophy will not be possible—at least in Europe. European regulations currently do not allow the use of AI-based machine learning in vehicles, and for now, that is a good thing.

As your question rightly suggests, tackling this challenge requires significant collaborative efforts. One of IAMTS’s main objectives is to build bridges between the varying regulatory philosophies of the global automotive landscape—from the U.S. to Europe and Asia. Our diverse member portfolio reflects this cooperative mindset, and we hope to strengthen this even further in the future.

What signals can and should you send to customers to increase their trust in autonomous driving?

There are major concerns about this technology, though they vary regionally. I believe this is largely a matter of communication and transparency. The complexity of the issue stems not only from the technology itself but also from the vast differences in regulatory requirements across the world.

We must simplify this complexity and communicate the key points to the public in an understandable way. From my perspective, the most important message is that organizations like TÜV will continue to play a vital role in assessing the safety and functionality of these systems. Trust in such institutions is strong in Europe. However, even in regions like the U.S., discussions are ongoing about whether and how approval and monitoring mechanisms should be integrated into a system that has largely relied on industry self-certification.

For TÜV Rheinland, participating in IAMTS under the umbrella of the TÜV Association is an investment of time and resources driven by the need to understand, assess, and evaluate emerging technologies. The International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization will be a critical tool in achieving this goal.

This article was first published at automotiveit.eu

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