I admit I didn't go through every post to see if this was already covered, but I did get the majority. I am an avid believer in the automation of vehicles. That doesn't mean I don't like track days or an occasional trip to the drag strip. I also enjoy my 6 speed manual gearbox. But as everyone else I'm out on the road with people that couldn't care less about driving. These people in my opinion are why we need AVs (level 5!).
I think its important to understand the different levels of automation that are considered. There are 6, Level 0 thru Level 5, and only some cars sold today are L1 (adaptive cruise control). Tesla is not even out of the L2 category yet. Audi is capable of L3 but has not been licensed to operate in that mode. Having said that, even L3 and 4 cars will rely on the driver as backup.
So I think the problem with the systems today are that drivers/public are expecting a L2 category car to perform like a L5 car and we simply are not there yet. This is partially the fault of great marketing departments at the various auto companies.
As an example, even airplane autopilots which have been around for many years and are safer than a pilot flying the plane by hand do not relinquish the responsibility of the pilot to be in full control of the plane and its operation. You will never see an aviation accident report which puts the fault on the autopilot, it will be the fault of the pilot for not maintaining situational awareness. There are a lot of good papers on the effects of automation on pilot performance. A lot of those studies would be applicable to cars as far as human performance go.
So I bring this up because a lot of the arguments around AV (not here, but in general) will show Tesla as an example and how many crashes it has had while in Autopilot mode. The problem here is that while in Autopilot mode, which is L2, the final authority is the driver not the car. So while the driver/public may expect a higher level of automation the reality is that the driver is fully at fault for the cars actions from a regulation and legal point of view. I recently saw an accident in Ft Lauderdale where a couple of teenagers wrecked a Tesla going way over the posted 25 MPH speed limit around a residential corner. Guess what the headlines were. Hint: It wasn't that the kids ran out of talent and wrecked the car. Autopilot wasn't even engaged. This could have been in any town USA (or world) and it wouldn't have made it out of the local papers.
Ok, sorry long post and rant. Next ones will be shorter.
I snagged the below out of an automotive site which gives a pretty good overview of the different automation levels. Each level is incrementally more challenging to achieve than the previous level. L5 is the first one which requires no human intervention. We are a long ways from that today. Also, here is a good chart (
https://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdg ... icles.aspx)
Level 0: No automation. This includes cars equipped with regular cruise control. The ability to maintain a speed that the driver sets is not autonomous. It's still up to the drive to change speed if the car catches up to a slow-moving Prius hogging the left lane.
Level 1: Driver assistance required. Adaptive cruise control falls into this category. When you catch up to that left lane hog, the car will automatically slow down to match its speed with no intervention from you. Lane keeping assistance falls into this category as well, as the car will gently guide you back into your lane as you start to cross the line. At Level 1 the driver still needs to maintain full situational awareness and control of the vehicle.
Level 2: Partial automation options available. Tesla Autopilot, Volvo Pilot Assist, Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot, Cadillac Super Cruise—these are all Level 2 systems. They will manage both your speed and your steering under certain conditions, such as highway driving. They will match your speed to the speed of traffic ahead of you and follow the curves in the road in ideal conditions. But the driver must still pay attention to driving conditions at all times and take over immediately if the conditions exceed the system's limitations, of which there are many. Don't buy the hype that these are fully self-driving cars. They can only drive themselves at certain times under certain conditions.
Level 3: Conditional Automation. Audi claims that the new A8 is the first production car to achieve Level 3 autonomy—not Level 4 as Motor Trend claims, or as earlier Audi marketing inaccurately implied. The car, rather than the driver, takes over actively monitoring the environment when the system is engaged. The Audi AI traffic jam pilot can take over the tedious job of creeping through highway traffic jams at speeds below 37 MPH. However, human drivers must be prepared to respond to a "request to intervene," as SAE International calls it. In other words, once the conditions under which Level 3 autonomous driving is possible no longer exist, such as traffic clearing and speeds exceeding 37 miles per hour, the driver is required to take over. This is arguably the stickiest level of autonomy, since drivers will be called on to take over when they haven't been paying attention to the road for a while. This is also the difference between Level 3 and 4 that Motor Trend failed to grasp.
Level 4: High automation. Self-driving cars will be able to handle most "dynamic driving tasks," to use SAE International's terminology. In other words, a Level 4 car can handle most normal driving tasks on its own, but will still require driver intervention from time to time, during poor weather conditions, for example, or other unusual environments. Level 4 cars will generally do the driving for you, but will still have a steering wheel and pedals for a human driver to take over when needed.
Level 5: Full automation. Humans are nothing but cargo that tell the car where to take them. The car can drive itself anytime, anywhere, under any conditions. Any human intervention in the driving at all is not Level 5.
. Who is doing L4 AV already?