Browse Topic: Regulations
Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft are poised to transform urban and regional mobility by offering zero-emission, congestion-free transportation. As regulatory frameworks evolve and advanced air mobility (AAM) gains traction, manufacturers are exploring propulsion strategies that improve range, power delivery, and overall system efficiency. A key challenge in eVTOL development is balancing range with payload capacity. While larger battery packs can extend range, they also increase system weight, reduce payload, and prolong charging times, limiting operational flexibility and turnaround time. Hydrogen fuel cells, supported by liquid hydrogen (LH₂) present a promising alternative for eVTOL propulsion. This study proposes a methodology for optimizing fuel cell propulsion systems tailored to eVTOL applications. A multi-physics modeling framework for eVTOL flight dynamics and propulsion system was developed, representing the target eVTOL configuration. For a defined flight path including vertical takeoff, hover, cruise, and landing, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) based optimization was conducted on propulsion system. The algorithm down-selected battery size, fuel cell stack specifications, and hydrogen tank capacity to meet mission requirements while minimizing propulsion system weight. The modeling framework was also used to evaluate trade-offs between payload and performance as functions of component sizing, battery chemistry and energy distribution strategy.
Helicopter air tours operate in one of the most challenging and least-controlled environments of commercial aviation, yet the safety outcomes of these operations remain inconsistent across regulatory frameworks. This study examined 55 helicopter air tour accidents in the United States from 2014 to 2024 using data from the NTSB Case Analysis and Reporting Online database. Defining event narratives, contributing factors narratives, and probable cause were coded to identify causal relationships between accidents and identify safety trends between 14 CFR Part 91 operations and Part 135 operations. CFR Part 91 operations exhibited accident rates approximately three times higher than Part CFR 135, averaging 3.94 per 100,000 flight hours compared to 1.23. Maintenance/mechanical was the most common initiating cause for accidents under CFR Part 91, accounting for 52% of cases compared to 37% under Part 135. Pilot/related cases were more prevalent under CFR Part 135, accounting for 53% of accidents. The two regulatory frameworks operated substantially different fleets, with CFR Part 91 relying on reciprocating-engine helicopters (76%) and Part 135 on turbine-powered aircraft (81%). Engine and powerplant/related events accounted for 27% of all defining events, and nearly half of all events involved a technical or mechanical initiator.
The automotive industry is evolving from a reactive, independently self-determined approach to cybersecurity, complicated by a complex supply chain. Over time, this has resulted in a fragmented industry comprised of any number of proprietary solutions verses a standardized, regulated paradigm to facilitate a platform-oriented approach. This document, an update on collaborative work from the SAE Vehicle Electrical Hardware Security Task Force (TEVEES18B) and GlobalPlatform Automotive Task Force, outlines this transition strategy. An extensible number of additional examples of use cases of Global Platform Technologies are explored in this document.
With the rise of AI and other new digital technologies on the horizon, ACT Expo 2026 will be a crucial intersection for industry leaders to map out the route ahead. Since 2011, ACT Expo has served as a meeting point of technology and business discussions for the commercial vehicle industry. The 2026 show in Las Vegas (www.actexpo.com) is shaping up to be another important waypoint for the industry as it continues to grapple with new technologies, regulations and other significant challenges. This year's agenda program builds on ACT Expo's long-established emphasis on clean transportation and places an increased focus on the digital frontier, including AI, autonomy, connectivity and software-defined vehicles. Truck & Off-Highway Enginering interviewed Erik Neandross, president of the Clean Transportation Solutions group at TRC, about what topics are emerging as the main trends heading into 2026 and what he thinks will be some of the most important themes of the upcoming convention.
Growing population in Indian cities has led to packed roads. People need a quick option to commute for both personal trips and business needs. The 2-3 Wheel Combination Vehicle is a new, modular solution that switches between a two-wheeler (2W) and a three-wheeler (3W). Hero has designed SURGE S32 to be a sustainable and flexible transportation option. It is world’s first class changing vehicle. The idea is to use a single vehicle for zipping through city traffic, making deliveries, or earning an income. Manufactured to deal with the challenges of modern life, this dual-battery convertible vehicle can easily transform from a two-wheeler to a three-wheeler and vice versa within three minutes. The Surge S32 is a versatile vehicle that replaces the need for multiple specialised vehicles. By lowering the number of vehicles on the road, it decreases road congestion, reduces emissions, and improves livelihoods. It powers by electricity, ensuring sustainability in all aspects. The current Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) lacked a clause for something this new. A vehicle was either a two-wheeler or a three-wheeler, not both. You might wonder, "How do you even make rules for a vehicle that embodies dual characteristics?” For a new idea to hit the streets, you need new rules. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) created a new L2-5 category and established a unique regulatory framework. Developed with our best safety experts and industry minds, this new framework is the foundation that allows these vehicles to exist legally and safely. It shows that India is not just building the vehicles of the future, but the rules for them too. CMVR approval framework for the L2-5 category has made it mandatory for these vehicles to comply with newly formulated standard AIS-177, which was developed carefully with pilot testing and stakeholders inputs. This category balances innovation with practical implementation. It also harmonizes taxation and insurance, while integrating seamlessly with the National Vehicle Registration Portal of India (VAHAN) system at the Regional Transport Office (RTO) level for streamlined registration and dual-configuration. The 2-3W Combi Vehicle establishes a new standard for sustainable urban mobility in India by integrating versatility, safety, and regulatory foresight.
Autonomous vehicle (AV) regulatory frameworks vary significantly across global regions, with the United States, European Union (EU), and China exemplifying distinct approaches. The US adopts a decentralized model, allowing state-level regulation with federal guidance, fostering testing and commercial deployment of Level 4 automation. The EU enforces a harmonized, safety-focused framework under legislation like Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 and (EU) 2022/1426, emphasizing structured validation within defined operational domains. China employs a centralized regulatory hierarchy, integrating national standards with localized pilot programs and connected infrastructure. While the US leads in commercial deployment and China advances through coordinated efforts, the EU’s cautious framework is often perceived as a barrier to rapid AV adoption. This paper critically analyzes these regulatory models, emphasizing the need for a robust, harmonized framework that ensures safety and public trust without imposing unnecessary barriers by evaluating the current landscape and future perspectives for effective AV adoption.
Accidents during lane changes are increasingly becoming a problem due to various human based and environment-based factors. Reckless driving, fatigue, bad weather are just some of these factors. This research introduces an innovative algorithm for estimating crash risk during lane changes, including the Extended Lane Change Risk Index (ELCRI). Unlike existing studies and algorithms that mainly address rear-end collisions, this algorithm incorporates exposure time risk and anticipated crash severity risk using fault tree analysis (FTA). The risks are merged to find the ELCRI and used in real time applications for lane change assist to predict if lane change is safe or not. The algorithm defines zones of interest within the current and target lanes, monitored by sensors attached to the vehicle. These sensors dynamically detect relevant objects based on their trajectories, continuously and dynamically calculating the ELCRI to assess collision risk during lane changes. Additionally, adherence to R79 regulations and usage of safety distances enhance the algorithms handling uncertainties in the system and environment. Additionally, separate thresholds for ELCRI in each zone allow modular lane change assessments. The inclusion of the above additions to the algorithm serves as an extension to already existing similar risk index concepts, therefore the term “Extended” LCRI has been used. The algorithm has been tested in simulated scenarios and compared with real-world data to evaluate its strengths and limitations. While very high relative velocities between the object and self-vehicle can affect ELCRI accuracy, the algorithm has proven effective in improving lane change safety under typical traffic conditions.
The rapid introduction of new Automated Driving Systems (ADS) in the last years has led to an urge for robust methodologies for the type approval of vehicles equipped with such technologies. As a result, different Regulations addressing this field have been adopted. These Regulations are mainly based in the New Assessment and Testing Methodology (NATM) developed within the World Forum for the Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations (WP29). However, the complexity of the regulatory ecosystem extends beyond type approval. This complexity requires a thorough analysis in order to avoid any possible gap which may jeopardise the feasibility of Automated Driving Vehicles deployment. This paper analyses the possible mismatches among the different regulations currently in place or under development and proposes a holistic approach, where the concept of the Operational Design Domain (ODD) takes a relevant role.
The evolution of Autonomous off-highway vehicles (OHVs) has transformed mining, construction, and agriculture industries by significantly improving efficiency and safety. These vehicles operate in high dust, uneven terrain, and potential communication failures, where safety is challenged. To guarantee vehicle safety in such situations, a robust architecture that combines AI-driven perception, fail-safe mechanisms, and conformance to many ISO standards is required. In unstructured environments, AI-driven perception, decision-making, and fail-safe mechanisms are not fully addressed by traditional safety standards like ISO26262 (road vehicles), ISO19014 (earth-moving machinery and it is replacing withdrawn ISO 15998), ISO12100 (Safety of machinery) and ISO25119 (agriculture), ISO 18497 (safety of highly automated agricultural machinery), and ISO/CD 24882 (cybersecurity for machinery).These standards mainly concentrate on the reliability of mechanical and electric/electronic systems. Additionally, emerging standards such as ISO21448 (SOTIF) used to detect and mitigate unsafe AI outputs, and ISO8800(AI safety) which focus on safety assurance for AI-based systems, offer valuable insights but requires additional adaptation. AI-driven systems are vulnerable to cyber threats that can endanger the vehicle safety. Integration of ISO21434 (cybersecurity for vehicles) and EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) has been added as a key regulatory framework with safety standards is highly needed to address safety failures induced by cyber threats. This paper introduces a hybrid safety framework that integrates ISO safety standards ISO26262, ISO19014, ISO12100, ISO25119, ISO21448, ISO21434, ISO 18497, ISO/CD 24882, EU Cyber Resilience Act and ISO8800 with AI innovations enhance the safety and reliability of autonomous OHVs. The proposed framework makes use of sensor fusion, explainable AI for transparent decision-making, especially in safety-critical scenarios, and a real-time fail-safe mechanism to manage critical failure scenarios such as power failures, communication loss, and sensor degradation by switching to a safe state. To confirm the effectiveness of this hybrid approach, digital twin simulation software along with additional technologies in OHV applications are used. The results demonstrate significant improvements in more accurate fault detection, efficient responses, and overall system resilience, highlighting the benefits of merging AI safety techniques with established ISO standards.
As an important bridge connecting cities and rural areas, highway transportation has an irreplaceable role in regional economic development [1]. Accompanied by the booming development of long-distance transportation industry, strengthening highway transportation is of great significance to improve people's living standards [2], but because of the special characteristics of truck transportation, fuel theft is frequent, seriously endangering the driver's life and the safety of goods transportation, although the police in the severe crackdown, but fuel theft seems to be in addition to inexhaustible, truck drivers lose oil incidents still occur from time to time, due to the increasingly serious energy problems, the world's countries have Due to the increasingly serious energy problems, countries around the world have formulated strict automotive fuel consumption rate (hereinafter referred to as fuel consumption) regulations [3], in the transportation process to prevent fuel theft is of great significance. Foreign research on fuel theft prevention can be traced back to around 2009, when the International Road Transport Union (IRU) conducted a relevant study in the UK [4]. In addition, the research on fuel theft of trucks in the EU-funded TSS project in 2018 has been more systematic [5]; in 2020, more research literature on fuel theft has also appeared. Domestic related starting research is late, research on fuel monitoring and vehicle tracking only appeared around 2012, after which research gradually increased; a commercial vehicle antitheft fuel alarm device design was proposed in 2013. However, with the continuous development of automotive technology, the original fuel anti-theft research is no longer applicable to the development of modern fuel tank components and has certain limitations. Therefore, this study takes this opportunity to deeply investigate the means of fuel theft and the defects of existing measures, draw on advanced concepts at home and abroad, innovatively put forward the dual-mode architecture system program according to the length of the vehicle stopping time, integrating energy-saving control, multilevel alarms, and location information processing technology, and is made of hardware selection, software programming, and model assembly and debugging. After testing, the system is stable in all functions, effectively monitors fuel anomalies and accurately grades alarms, solves the problem of excessive energy loss by long-time parking anti-theft, and plays an effective warning and reminder effect by utilizing the long-distance and short-distance dual-alarm processing system. However, there are fluctuations in the stability of data transmission and occasional delays in the response of some sensors under extreme complex electromagnetic interference, and the technical flaws will be overcome to improve stability and robustness.
PACCAR's Phil Stephenson previews SAE COMVEC 2025 and offers insights into powertrain diversification, the role of AI, a software-defined future and the importance of people. Advancing technology to solve challenges involving regulation, compliance, autonomy, electrification, combustion engines and other areas is an obvious focus of SAE International's flagship gathering for the commercial vehicle and off-highway industries, COMVEC 2025 (https://comvec.sae.org/). But advancing people, which is vital to navigating this challenging environment, is a particular focal point for this year's engineering event being held near Chicago in September. Workforce development is just as critical as technology development, stresses Phil Stephenson, general manager of PACCAR Technical Center, where he leads a team of engineers, technicians, mechanics, scientists and business leaders. Stephenson is serving as the executive chair of SAE COMVEC 2025, which carries the theme “Advancement, Empowerment & Exploration: Shaping the Future Together.”
When it comes to technology adoption, the healthcare industry is historically risk averse. Despite strict regulations protecting patient data and concerns over medical outcomes, a new report from Mordor Intelligence reports that the global market for wireless portable medical devices is expected to exceed $31.4 billion this year. 1 The same report projects 12.14 percent compound annual growth through 2030 to meet the demands of a burgeoning geriatric population for wearable and implantable devices and in-home vital signs monitoring.
There is an increasing effort to reduce noise pollution across different industries worldwide. From a transportation standpoint, pass-by regulations aim to achieve this and have been implementing increasingly stricter emissions limits. Testing according to these standards is a requirement for homologation, but does little to help manufacturers understand why their vehicles may be failing to meet limits. Using a developed methodology such as Pass-by Source Path Contribution (SPC, also known as TPA) allows for identification of dominant contributors to the pass-by receivers along with corresponding acoustic source strengths. This approach is commonly used for passenger vehicles, but can be impractical for off-highway applications, where vehicles are often too large for most pass-by-suitable chassis dynamometers. A hybrid approach is thereby needed, where the same techniques and instrumentation used in the indoor test are applied to scenarios in an outdoor environment. This allows for determination of all the useful contribution results in a more representative environment and without limitations associated with indoor facilities. This paper demonstrates the application of this method on an off-highway vehicle for several scenarios.
Airworthiness certification of aircraft requires an Airworthiness Security Process (AWSP) to ensure safe operation under potential unauthorized interactions, particularly in the context of growing cyber threats. Regulatory authorities mandate the consideration of Intentional Unauthorized Electronic Interactions (IUEI) in the development of aircraft, airborne software, and equipment. As the industry increasingly adopts Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) to accelerate development, we aim to enhance this effort by focusing on security scope definitions – a critical step within the AWSP for security risk assessment that establishes the boundaries and extent of security measures. However, our findings indicate that, despite the increasing use of model-based tools in development, these security scope definitions often remain either document-based or, when modeled, are presented at overly abstract levels, both of which limit their utility. Furthermore, we found that these definitions frequently lack alignment with airworthiness security regulations. To address these two distinct gaps, this paper presents a model-based approach for detailed security scope definitions using the Systems Modelling Language (SysML). Our approach aligns with airworthiness security regulations ED-202A / DO-326A and ED-203A / DO-356A and incorporates a SysML profile based on the CORAS language for accurate modeling of security scopes. This facilitates a model-based security risk assessment by creating unambiguously system models that represent assets through model elements, document entry points to the assets and determine their environment. This SysML-based approach supports certification related activities by ensuring that security scope definitions are comprehensive and aligned with airworthiness regulations, directly addressing the identified gaps. The approach's applicability and effectiveness are demonstrated through an illustrative example in the domain of aircraft cabin system development. Moreover, the approach provides valuable inputs that assist operators in deriving guidance for the safe operation and maintenance of the aircraft, complementing existing methods and practices.
Physical testing is required to assess multiple vehicles in different conditions, specially to validate those related to regulations. The acoustic evaluations have difficulties and limitations in physical test; cost and time represent important considerations every time. Additionally, the physical validation happens once a prototype has been built, this takes place in a later phase of the development. Sound pressure is measured to validate different requirements in a vehicle, horn sound is one of these and it is related to a regulation of united nations (ECE28). Currently the validation happens in physical test only and the results vary depending on the location of the horn inside the front end of every vehicle. [7] In this article, the work for approaching a virtual validation method through CAE is presented with the intention to get efficiency earlier in product development process.
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