Press and Media

27. April 2022

Relocation to Vienna: IAMTS‘ coordination of international commitment to commonly accepted standards to be based in Europe

The International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization (IAMTS) is moving its headquarters from Pennsylvania in the USA to Vienna, Austria, and will continue its thematic work from there as a non-profit organisation registered in Europe. By relocating to Vienna, home to many renowned international organisations, IAMTS recognises the importance of certified test methods and standardisation activities for autonomous driving worldwide. The reorganisation will also open the alliance for new members such as OEMs, chip manufacturers, research institutions and authorities. TÜV SÜD is one of the founding members of IAMTS, together with SAE International and CATARC. Their common objective has been to develop clear rules for industry and harmonise the approval requirements of advanced mobility systems, thereby driving the advancement of automated mobility.

“Transparency, cooperation and common standards are the objectives of IAMTS in a nutshell. We will now continue to pursue them with global coordination from Europe”, says Alexander Kraus, Global Head of Automotive at TÜV SÜD and new President and Chairman of the Executive Committee of IAMTS. “To reach these objectives, we will be placing IAMTS on a broader footing in future. Working with all parties involved, this will allow us to create commonly accepted testbeds, test methods and standards.” Even though the technology involved has evolved enormously over recent years, global collaboration in the area of highly and fully automated vehicles is still in its infancy. However, initial successes have resulted, such as UNECE Regulation No. 157 for automatic lane keeping systems (ALKS); as the first standard for an automated driving function (SAE level 3) it was adopted by a total of 42 countries in 2020. Kraus notes, “The demand for reliable, predictable and reproducible tests for autonomous vehicles across all geographical and regulatory borders is on the rise worldwide. By expanding IAMTS and opening it to new members, we are catering to this development.”

High complexity
As it has done for UNECE Regulation No. 157, IAMTS seeks to consolidate the complex information derived from global testing and verification practices in order to accelerate the development of testing and verification testbeds and technologies for intelligent connected vehicles (ICV). The new Managing Director of IAMTS, Christian Lausmann, underlines the necessity of global collaboration: “The topic of autonomous driving addressed by the next highest SAE levels 4 and 5 is too complex to be solved by only a few members. In addition to Tier 1 and 2 OEMs, independent third-party testing and certification organisations such as TÜV SÜD are playing a prominent role. It is precisely this independence and impartiality that we seek to underline by choosing Vienna as our new headquarters.”

The partners are focusing on establishing a global network of open and closed ICV testbeds that will allow them to share test methods and test data as well as test systems and equipment. Alexander Kraus comments, “TÜV SÜD experts will contribute their know-how to advance automated drive tests and automated testing, actively shape the automotive industry and strengthen people’s trust in automated driving.”

IAMTS was founded in 2019 by TÜV SÜD, the Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE), China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC), Shanghai Intelligent Automotive Center (SIAC) and the International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC). The international alliance aims at developing and harmonising globally standardised test methods and commonly accepted uniform standards in the field of automated driving. The International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization (IAMTS) pursues the mission of establishing an international portfolio of testbeds for smart mobility at the highest quality levels in order to effectively support the development and market introduction of automated mobility.

The non-profit organisation in Vienna will be established in Vienna on 30 April 2022. Its new managing directors are Christian Lausmann, TÜV SÜD, and Prof. Dr. Joachim Taiber, ITIC. President and Chairman of the Executive Committee is Alexander Kraus, TÜV SÜD. Since its foundation in 2019, IAMTS has gained many important members, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEES) – a professional association of engineers and scientists in electrical, electronic, telecommunications and computer engineering – and AVL List GmbH, one of the world’s largest companies supplying development, simulation and testing for the automotive industry.

Further information can be found at www.tuvsud.com and http://iamts.org.

Download Press release

Press contact: Vincenzo Lucá

Next Steps

Site Selector