 Welcome to the ITU studio in Geneva where we're joined this morning and we've got the great pleasure of having Jean Taudin the studio here Who is the president of the FIA as well as the UN Secretary General Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean welcome to the studio Thank you glad to be here with you We're here because we've got the future network car symposium that's happening today here at ITU Would have been at the Geneva Motor Show but that was cancelled As I mentioned in my introduction as well as being president of the FIA The Federation Internationale d'Automobile You're also the UN Secretary General Special Envoy on Road Safety Now 2011 to 2020 was declared the UN Decade of Action on Road Safety Where do we stand today? Yes that's right I mean 2011-2020 was the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety Incidentally, I like your badge Road Safety is part of the SDG 3.6 with the aim to half the number of victims by 2020 And unfortunately it will not happen And we had a ministerial meeting in Stockholm 10 days ago And of course it was very important to make an assessment of what had happened And what needs to happen in the next decade 2020-2030 So I mean unfortunately I mean due to the increase of number of vehicles around the world It had been one increase of victims on the road And if you take the WHO figure Last year 1.4 million people died on the road Which means over 3700 people dying on the roads every day And you know in a period where we speak about other pandemies I mean can you imagine what it means 3700 people dying every day It's number one cause of mortality for use between 5 to 29 And on top of that we need to have injuries because of road crashes And it's one evaluation about 150,000 injuries with disability So of course it's a pain for the victim but it's also a big burden for the country And it's depending of the country between 3 to 5% of the GDP And you know contrary to other pandemies we have the prescriptions And here it comes to I mean the theme podium It's around education, law enforcement, vehicles, road infrastructures and post-crash care So here with all the new technologies we can be applied as essential And also UNEC is developing the UN Road Safety Conventions Which is absolutely essential to convince the member states to apply those conventions So I mean that was part of the topic which were discussed in TOCALM And I mean I would say that's also a great opportunity to have this sympodium To refresh memories, to make also an assessment about what had happened What are the new technologies and of course we speak a lot about autonomous vehicles We speak a lot about electronic stability control I mean and of course we are talking about two different level of technologies Autonomous vehicles, I mean we speak a lot about it but it will take still years before I mean globally there is access to this kind of vehicles So I do believe that you will have available autonomous vehicle probably for public transportation But I mean we need to add now to develop new technologies Or to make sure that they are applied in developing countries Where over 90% of the victims are occurring And of course the average of age of the vehicles which are four wheels or two wheels Are of course much older So it's very important to see also what can be adapted to those old vehicles with new technologies I would say it's a fascinating time, challenging time as well But a lot has been done and much more can be done Let's talk about the technologies If we had been at the car show, I'm sure we would have seen a lot of innovations there What are the most interesting and the latest technologies in automotive? I will say at the moment we have been talking about road safety But I mean one big topic which rightly we are talking is about environment Climate change So I mean a lot of pressure is on manufacturers for vehicles with zero emission So I mean electric cars So if Geneva Motor Show would have happened I'm convinced that a lot would have been about electric technology Which has a lot of merits but also a lot of downsides So in reality I do believe a lot on hybrid technology which is a mixture And of course new technology are under development And soon coming like fuel cell and hydrogen technology So I would say it's a fascinating period But I mean even more than a period I think we are living in a fascinating part of the society Because when you see, I mean motoring is quite new It's just over a century ago And when you see I mean the development which has occurred over each decade It's absolutely fascinating But of course it does create problem It does create problem because the number of vehicles have increased Number of vehicles increasing traffic, congestion, pollutions are increasing And it's something which needs to be addressed And again a symposium hosted combining UNEC experience, expertise And ITU will allow us to move forward Are automation and connectivity the final answer to road safety in your opinion And how would this answer differ in developed and developing countries You touched upon in your previous answer But I just wanted to just probe a little bit more here I mean of course that would be ideal you know Again if we take statistics 90% of road crashes is due to human errors So and you can see that I mean in the air You know in the air I think last year it was less than 1000 people who died because of air crash And I mean all most of it is automized you know So it would be fantastic if we could transfer that to the road But unfortunately it is not yet possible That's why we must concentrate to the reality And the reality is driver head And it's a lot of cheap driver head And I mean I will take an example I mean anti-brake system, ABS you know Which is quite new Maybe 20 years back or 30 years back it was an invention So I mean it allows you when you brake I mean the car is deciding I mean the pulsion on the pedal Because it's better than human being You know so a lot of those technologies are smarter than human being So we must make the difference of what is possible now What is achievable And what is not yet achievable Which will come later And I mean make sure that everybody will be able to enjoy as soon as possible Of those new technologies Finally let me ask you in your view What are the key barriers to achieving the full potential of new automotive technology I would say finance You know finance regulations amongst the government But I mean you must bear in mind that unfortunately a lot of countries Around in the developing world have not yet access to public transportation Which incidentally is another SDG 11.2 To give access to public transportation to any citizens around the world by 2030 So you know I mean here we are blessed Because we are living in developed countries where there is a lot of good education On road safety it's a good law enforcement Vehicles are good road infrastructure are good Post-cross care is good But it is not the case in the developing countries which are 50 years behind Thank you very much again for joining us this year at the Future Network Carson podium We look forward to catching up with you again very soon And I wish you the very best for the future Thank you and thank you for your engagement to help us to address better road safety Thank you