Fully autonomous cars are still years away from hitting the streets, but internationally-agreed rules on their use could be ready by mid-2026, the United Nations has said.

Safety concerns and the cost of developing next-level systems have slowed down progress on autonomous vehicles, but work on regulations is motoring ahead, said the UN.

“While the hype may be slowly disappearing, the actual serious work on regulation is advancing,” UNECE agency’s deputy executive secretary Dmitry Mariyasin told reporters, according to TechXPlore.

Established in 1952, the World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations meets three times a year, bringing together countries, carmakers and technology giants. This week’s gathering in Geneva is the main annual session.

The forum takes place under UNECE, the UN Economic Commission for Europe, which shapes the legal framework for inland transport.

Richard Damm, chair of the Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA), said new UN regulations for driver control assistance systems were adopted in February and would come into force in September.

Furthermore, “we are planning to have a globally harmonized regulation on Automated Driving Systems (ADS) ready for mid-2026”, he said.

Unlike some fields where regulation comes long after the roll-out of new technology, GRVA secretary Francois Guichard said getting the rules settled first was in line with previous advances in motoring.

He said regulations for electric vehicles were ready before they hit the market, and the framework is also now in place for hydrogen vehicles, should the industry move towards mass production.