The Future Connected Car – Safely Developed Thanks to UNECE WP.29?

The automotive OEMs and their suppliers are facing challenging times which are further reinforced by COVID-19. Due to technological breakthroughs and innovation such as the increasing level of automation and connectivity of the vehicles, new risks and threats arise which in the worst case may jeopardize human safety. Cyber-attacks in the automotive industry have drastically increased over the last years making Cyber Security a crucial topic. To tackle this issue, UNECE WP.29 provides a new disruptive legal framework with a tight timeline to implement. Among others, the framework addresses the implementation of a Cyber Security Management System (CSMS), a Software Update Management System (SUMS) and the Automated Lane Keeping System (ALKS). It has an impact on the organization of the OEMs and poses challenges to transform their current development and production processes and to build up the post-production activities. Dedicating resources to Cyber Security does not only have the goal to be compliant, but it can also be a differentiator. With a step-by-step pragmatic and adaptive approach, a holistic security strategy can be achieved, Cyber Security challenges appropriately met and the compliance to WP.29 ensured at acceptable costs.