Spain's DGT appoints Applus+ IDIADA as a technological recognition centre for automated vehicle road tests on 23 October

Applus+ IDIADA said on 23 October 2026 that Spain's General Directorate of Traffic, the DGT, has appointed it a Centro de Reconocimiento Tecnológico, or technological recognition centre. In plain terms, IDIADA can now sign the technical certificate that a developer must hand the DGT before it is allowed to test an automated vehicle on Spanish public roads under the country's ES-AV programme.

This matters more than a corporate milestone. Every country trying to let robotaxis and hands-off systems onto real roads runs into the same problem: who checks the homework before the car leaves the proving ground? Spain's answer is to outsource the checking to accredited third parties, and IDIADA, which runs the big proving ground at Santa Oliva near Tarragona, is exactly the sort of lab that fits.

What ES-AV actually asks for

The framework sits under DGT Instruction 07/2025, and the DGT's own page on it was updated on 20 October 2026. It is not a blanket permit. Testing is split into three phases. Phase 1, called controlled, allows a maximum of three vehicles inside a restricted operational design domain with a safety operator on board. Phase 2, extensive, allows up to ten vehicles running at once, still with an on-board operator, but any ODD is accepted. Phase 3, pre-deployment, allows more than ten vehicles and lets the on-board operator go, as long as a remote safety operator is in place. The scope covers SAE levels 2 to 5, so driver control assistance systems are in scope too, not only driverless cars. Authorised vehicles have to carry an ES-AV badge while they are testing.

There are three ways in. A developer can lean on an approval already granted elsewhere in the European Economic Area, go through an external evaluation by an independent body, or use a special route that recognises third-country testing. The technological recognition centre is the independent body in that middle route. The DGT's rules for these centres are strict: the applicant must already be a designated technical service for vehicle type approval under MINCOTUR, and must show technical competence either through ISO 17025 accreditation from ENAC or equivalent evidence. A designation runs for a maximum of five years, with renewals in two year blocks, and the DGT has three months to decide on an application. Its public list of designated centres was last updated on 21 September 2026.

The Indian comparison

India has no equivalent public road framework for automated vehicles, so the testing work here still happens on closed ground. ARAI has built what it calls India's first ADAS test city at its Mobility Research Centre at Takwe near Pune, a pseudo-urban proving ground built to tight tolerances for surface uniformity, gradients, signage and infrastructure. Heavy rain in and around Pune pushed the ADAS Show there to 12 February 2026 from a December 2025 slot.

The gap is instructive. ARAI's Intelligent Vehicle Technology centre of excellence runs a four module validation chain, from capturing India specific traffic data to digitising those scenarios, then physical vehicle testing and simulation in the loop. That is the engineering half of the job. Spain has now built the paperwork half, a named lab with a time limited licence to certify, and a phased ladder that starts at three cars. For Indian suppliers and the Bengaluru software teams writing perception and planning code for European customers, ES-AV is the gate their work will have to clear, and IDIADA is now one of the people holding the key.

Sources

• Applus+ IDIADA: The Spanish Government appoints IDIADA to certify automated vehicles intended for testing on public roads
• DGT: Marco de autorización de pruebas de vehículos automatizados (ES-AV)
• DGT: Centros de Reconocimiento Tecnológico
• Motor India: ADAS Show rescheduled to February 12, 2026, as ARAI completes testing city in Pune
• Applus+ IDIADA news index