Vehicle categories

A category M or N vehicle (motor vehicle) is a power-driven vehicle intended for the transport of persons or goods or for a specific special purpose, has at least four wheels or is track-laying, and has a maximum design speed exceeding 25 km/h.   

Category M1 vehicle (passenger car)  

A vehicle intended for the transport of persons and equipped with no more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat.

Category M2 and M3 vehicle (bus or coach) 

A vehicle intended for the transport of persons and equipped with more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat. The total mass of a category M2 vehicle may not exceed 5 tonnes, while the total mass of a category M3 vehicle is over 5 tonnes.

Category N1 vehicle (van)  

A vehicle intended primarily for the transport of goods and features a total mass that does not exceed 3.5 tonnes.

Category N2 and N3 vehicle (lorry) 

A vehicle intended primarily for the transport of goods and features a total mass that exceeds 3.5 tonnes. The total mass of a category N2 vehicle may not exceed 12 tonnes, while the total mass of a category N3 vehicle is over 12 tonnes.

A motor caravan is a category M special purpose vehicle whose accommodation area features at least the following rigidly fixed equipment:

1. seats and a table which may be easily removed
2. beds that can be converted from the seats 
3. cooking facilities  
4. storage space.

A motor caravan is exempt from car tax if its unladen mass is at least 2,500 kilograms and it features an accommodation area whose indoor height is at least 1.85 metres in an area whose width is at least 0.4 metres and length at least 1.30 metres when measured lengthwise along the motor vehicle. In addition to the aforementioned equipment, the motor caravan’s accommodation area must also feature a rigidly fixed cold storage space as well as a heater for the accommodation area.

Category L vehicles are powered two-, three- or four-wheel vehicles, such as powered cycles, two- and three-wheel mopeds, two- and three-wheel motorcycles, motorcycles with side-cars, light and heavy on-road quads, as well as light and heavy quadricycles. 

Below you will find a few examples of the classification criteria for category L motor vehicles. For a complete list, see the following table.  

Moped and powered cycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle (category L3e) is a two-wheel powered vehicle that is equipped with an engine whose capacity is larger than 50 cm3 in the case of a combustion engine and whose maximum design vehicle speed is greater than 45 km/h.

Light quadri-mobile and heavy quadricycle

1. a vehicle intended for the transport of one or several persons or goods and equipped with pedals or hand-cranks. This type of vehicle may also be equipped with an electric motor which has a power output not exceeding 250 W, works only when pedalling and is cut off at the point when the vehicle reaches a speed of 25 km/h;
2. a kickbike [SL1] or similar type of non-motorised vehicle which, due to its size or intended purpose, necessitates compliance with regulations related to reflectors and lights as well as other key bicycle safety requirements.

A vehicle that is equipped with an electric engine but that is not an electric engine-powered bicycle or a category L vehicle. The maximum rated power of the engine used in this type of vehicle is 1 kW, and its maximum design vehicle speed may not exceed 25 km/h. Light electric vehicles are subject to the same requirements as non-motorised vehicles.

Technical requirements starting on 1 January 2024: 

Traficom’s Regulation on the technical requirements of transport robots:

• Dimensions:
  • Height 80 cm, width 65 cm and length 80 cm (Measurements do not take into account the flexible rod installed for attention flags, reflectors or lights)
• Masses:
  • 70 kg when the structural speed is 6 km/h or less
  • 35 kg when the structural speed is over 6 km/h
• Mandatory lights:
  • White light on the front, red one in the back. Always on while driving.
  • Can have turn signals
  • Additionally, other visibility-improving lights are also allowed
• Reflectors
  • Must have front, side and back reflectors
  • On the front and sides white or brownish yellow
  • In the back red or brownish yellow
  • There may be other reflectors or reflective material to improve visibility
• Sound signal device
  • Requirement for the device under the Vehicles Act
  • Maximum sound intensity 75-95 dB(A) measured from a distance of 2 m and a height of 1 m
  • Use regulated in the Road Traffic Act
• Brakes
  • Electric motors may act as braking devices
  • The vehicle must be able to stop and remain stationary:
    • If it hits a person or an obstacle
    • If the vehicle is no longer within the operating range defined for the automatic driving system designed for it
    • A fault or malfunction related to the safety of the control system is detected
    • A stop signal is given to the vehicle
  • The brakes must not only affect the vehicle's rear wheels or tracks
  • A light automatic goods transporter travelling at a structural speed of more than 6 km/h must be equipped with a backup brake system

Vehicles Act section 29a requirements

• Structural speed of at most 15 km/h
• The total nominal power of the electric motors is no more than 1.00 kW
• Its dimensions and mass are such that it does not cause danger

In addition, the transport robot must have:

• a reliable control device
• service brakes
• tyres and rims or tracks or runners that correspond to the load applied to them
• fire-safe fuel and electrical system
• the necessary lights, reflectors and reflective number plates
• sound signal device
• reversing device

Road Traffic Act section 52 requirements

According to the Road Traffic Act, a transport robot is allowed to drive on the pavement

• pedestrians must be given clear passage
• special caution must be taken when driving on the pavement
• the speed must be adjusted in such a way that it does not cause harm or danger to pedestrians

In addition, all the requirements of the Road Traffic Act concerning vehicles must be taken into account.

A vehicle that has been approved as a historic vehicle by an inspection station on the basis of a statement provided by a nationally registered historic vehicle organisation at the earliest six months prior to the inspection. The vehicle must have been manufactured at least 30 years ago and kept in a condition that is equivalent to its original condition, or restored or conserved in the appropriate manner.

A category T or C vehicle is a motorised vehicle intended for agriculture or forestry that is either wheeled or track-laying and is categorised in the following manner:

1. Wheeled tractors in category T1 and track-laying tractors in category C1 whose minimum track width is at least 1,150 mm and unladen mass in running order is over 600 kg; 
2. Wheeled tractors in category T2  and track-laying tractors in category C2 whose minimum track width is under 1,150 mm and unladen mass in running order is over 600 kg; 
3. Wheeled tractors in category T3 and track-laying tractors in category C3 whose unladen mass in running order is up to 600 kg; 
4. Special purpose wheeled tractors in category T4 and track-lying tractors in category C4.

The categories of tractors and tractor trailers as well as interchangeable towed equipment include the letter “a” as a suffix if the vehicle’s maximum design vehicle speed does not exceed 40 km/h (e.g. T1a), or the letter “b” if the vehicle’s maximum design vehicle speed exceeds 40 km/h (e.g. T1b).

Tractor registered for road use, or traffic tractor, was a national vehicle category whose maximum permitted speed was 50 km/h. Traffic tractors are usually modified agricultural tractors that can travel at 40 km/h. Compared to other tractors, the related additional requirements usually focus on the brakes and mud flaps used in these tractors. 

A public works vehicle is a vehicle that has been designed and built to serve in operations related to public works and, due to its construction, is not suitable for the transport of people or goods. Public works vehicles include for example shovel loaders, boom cranes and street sweepers. 

In addition, dumpers, which are used to transport materials such as soil at construction sites, have also been categorised as public works vehicles.

The most common off-road vehicles are snowmobiles and quads that have not been approved for road use.

A motor sled is an off-road vehicle fitted with runners or tracks. A snowmobile is a motor sled that has been fitted with tracks, weighs no more than 500 kg, and seats up to two people in addition to the driver. A heavy snowmobile is a motor sled that has been fitted with tracks, seats up to four people in addition to the driver, and whose unladen mass is greater than 0.5 tonnes but not more than 0.8 tonnes. 

Off-road cars and other types of vehicles that are also intended to be driven on roads are not categorised as off-road vehicles.

A work machine mounted on a vehicle chassis is a category N2 or N3 vehicle (lorry) which is equipped with different tools for carrying out work and which is not intended for transporting goods other than the tools and materials necessary for the work. 

A work machine that has been mounted on a vehicles chassis must not include any cargo space or containers intended for the transport of goods as well as no seating for additional passengers other than the seats next to the driver.

Examples of vehicles that have been approved as work machines mounted on vehicle chassis:

• plough vehicles (category N3) whose gravel container and tipping device have been removed and that have been fitted with a fixed concrete weight, snow plough and underside grader 
• crane lorry 
• concrete pump truck (no concrete tank).

A category O1–O4 vehicle (automobile trailer) is a towed vehicle.

Automobile trailers are divided into the following categories on the basis of their total mass:

1. Category O1 vehicle (light trailer), total mass not exceeding 0.75 tonnes; 
2. Category O2 vehicle, total mass exceeding 0.75 tonnes but not exceeding 3.5 tonnes; 
3. Category O3 vehicle, total mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 10 tonnes; 
4. Category O4 vehicle, total mass exceeding 10 tonnes.

Towed equipment is an automobile trailer or a towed vehicle that is connected to some other vehicle than a car that is not meant for the transport of persons or goods or for travel purposes.

An accessible vehicle is a vehicle that has been constructed and equipped especially for the transport of persons with disabilities or who have restricted mobility and must use a wheelchair. 

Accessible vehicles are further divided into two subcategories: small and large accessible vehicles. 

An accessible vehicle must include a wheelchair lift or a wheelchair ramp that is uniform lengthwise, safe to use, and whose incline does not exceed 14%. The incline of the wheelchair ramp may be up to 21% if the ramp features electrically winding and lockable wheelchair straps. An accessible vehicle must include space for a wheelchair, and the width of this space must be at least 0.75 m and length at least 1.10 m. The height of the wheelchair space in a small accessible vehicle must be at least 1.40 m and at least 1.45 m in a large accessible vehicle. The incline of the floor under the wheelchair space may not exceed 1% apart from its longitudinal direction, where the incline may be up to 5% ascending forward. The wheelchair space may include alternative seating that can be folded away easily, as long as the space taken by said folded seats does not restrict the aforementioned wheelchair space. The wheelchair and the person travelling in it must be secured to the vehicle in a reliable manner in accordance with the SFS 5912 standard or the ISO 10542-1:2012 standard.

The opening to the wheelchair space must be at least 0.80 m wide at floor level when measured at a maximum distance of 30 mm above the floor level of the wheelchair space. The height of the opening to the wheelchair space in a small accessible vehicle must be at least 1.35 m and at least 1.45 m in a large accessible vehicle. The vehicle must be easily accessible.