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Automation and crash avoidanceTechnology can help reduce crashes. |
What does automation mean when it comes to driving?
Automation is the use of a machine or technology to perform a task or function that was previously carried out by a human. In driving, automation involves using radar, camera, and other sensors to perform parts or all of the driving task on a sustained basis instead of the driver.
One example is adaptive cruise control which continually adjusts the vehicle's speed to maintain a set minimum following distance. Features such as automatic braking, which acts as a back-up if the human driver fails to brake, or blind spot detection, which provides additional information to the driver, aren't considered automation under this definition.
Will I still need to pay attention when using automation to drive my car?
For the foreseeable future, yes. Driving automation is not limited to vehicles that drive themselves without human interaction, but includes technologies that vary in technical capability.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released policy guidelines in September 2016 for automated vehicles, to clarify the technical differences between different levels of automation based on definitions developed by SAE International.
The levels of driving automation range from none, or Level 0, to full driving automation, or Level 5. The levels are differentiated by whether a human is required to monitor the driving environment and whether, if things go wrong, the human is expected to take control or the
automated system can bring the vehicle safely to a stop.
Levels of driving automation:
In vehicles in which only some parts of the driving task, such as steering, controlling speed or following distance, or braking, are automated (Levels 1-2), drivers are still expected to be actively engaged and to continuously monitor the driving environment. Adaptive cruise control and Tesla's Autopilot software are examples of Level 1 and Level 2 systems.
In contrast, drivers aren't expected to be actively engaged when using automated systems that monitor the environment in addition to performing some or all parts of the driving task (levels 3-5). However, some of these systems may rely on the driver to intervene if something goes wrong (Level 3) while others may stop the vehicle safely if the driver is unable to take over (levels 4 and 5).
So far, all of this technology is constrained to specific road and environmental conditions. As such, drivers will be expected to bridge the gap until full driving automation is developed that can perform the entire driving task without driver input under all conditions (Level 5).
Will automation reduce motor vehicle deaths and injuries?
The potential injury and fatality reductions associated with driving automation are huge. An in depth study of police reported crashes occurring during 2005-07 where at least one vehicle was towed from the scene concluded that a driver's error or physical state led to 94 percent of the crashes. If automation can eliminate all crashes involving driver related factors, then thousands of lives could be saved each year -- but that's a big "if."
Already, crash avoidance features that use some of the same sensing and control technologies that underpin automation are preventing crashes. Automatic braking and electronic stability control, for example, have been shown to prevent crashes.
Much of the automation available in current vehicles such as adaptive cruise control and lane keeping support, typically works only on higher speed roadways where crashes are relatively infrequent.
Even if all interstate miles were logged by vehicles driven entirely by automation that did not crash, the maximum overall benefit would be 17 percent fewer crash deaths and 9 percent fewer crash injuries. This is based on an Institute estimate using 2014 crash data.
More advanced forms of automation that operate more broadly could potentially prevent far more crashes, but it is still too early to tell if these technologies will live up to expectations.
An Institute analysis compared crash rates for Google's prototype vehicles with high levels of driving automation. Police reported crash rates in the same geographic location, specifically Mountain View before 2016.
Of 10 crashes Google reported to California officials, three were severe enough that they would have been reported to police had they involved only human drivers. That yielded a crash rate of 2.19 crashes per million miles traveled while automation was being used.
This is considerably lower than the police reported crash rate in Mountain View, (5.99 per million vehicle miles traveled), where Google cars operate, and comparable to the statewide rate in California (1.92 per million vehicle miles traveled). Two other studies that attempted to determine if Google's vehicles had lower crash rates than conventional vehicles found mixed results.
Are there laws or regulations governing the use or deployment of driving automation?
Yes. Regulatory frameworks for testing and deploying self driving cars are being developed in the United States and abroad.
In 2011, Nevada became the first state to enact legislation specifically permitting the operation of limited and full self-driving autonomous vehicles on public roads for research and testing. Since then California, Florida, Michigan, and the District of Columbia
have enacted similar laws.
These laws initially required a human operator to be present and capable of taking over in an emergency, but states are starting to revise requirements and allow testing without a human operator in the vehicle.
By executive order, Arizona authorizes pilot programs on campuses of selected universities. Massachusetts has formed a working group to develop legislation and approve companies who wish to test autonomous technology.
Tennessee prohibits barring the use of vehicles equipped with autonomous technology if the vehicle otherwise complies with safety standards. Four additional states (Alabama, Louisiana, North Dakota and Utah) have enacted study requirements or autonomous definitions within the state code.
In September 2016, the National Highway Traffic Administration released model policy guidance to help state lawmakers address testing and deployment of automated vehicle technology and encourage a consistent legislative approach nationwide.
When will my car drive itself?
Vehicles that drive themselves without human involvement will first be available as part of taxi and ride-sharing services. In August 2016, the world's first taxi service featuring high levels of driving automation debuted in Singapore.
Uber allows select customers in Pittsburgh to hail a vehicle that drives itself with a human supervisor, marking the first time the public can ride in this type of vehicle in the United States.
Ford and Lyft separately plan on introducing vehicles with high levels of automation for ride sharing in 2021.
Automakers have provided different target dates for when highly automated vehicles will be available for purchase by consumers. Some companies have claimed high or full driving automation will be available in 2020 or 2021 while others promise this level of automation by 2030.
Regardless of when vehicles equipped with high levels of automation become available for purchase, it will be decades before most vehicles on the road drive themselves. It takes a long time for new vehicle features to penetrate the vehicle fleet. For example, electronic stability control was introduced in the United States in 1995 model year vehicles, but it was not until nearly 20 years later in the 2012 model year that it became standard in over 95 percent of new vehicle models.
More recent crash avoidance technologies like front crash prevention and lane departure warning are not expected to be in nearly all registered vehicles on the nation's roadways until after 2040. It will be even longer before most registered vehicles in the U.S. are equipped with Level 2 automation that is just now becoming available in vehicles today.
With all this automation, will it still be necessary to learn how to drive?
Full automation is still years away, so people will need to know how to drive for now. The automated systems currently available on vehicles perform only parts of the driving task in certain situations.
In fact, these recent innovations may require additional training. Drivers need to know when automation is available, how to use it and how to take control when automation is no longer available or if it fails. Experimental studies have shown that drivers can lose sight of what automated systems are doing, fail to notice when something goes wrong, and have trouble taking control again.
People will not need to learn how to drive vehicles that can drive themselves safely without human involvement (Level 4 or 5), but only how to tell the vehicle where to go or what to do in an emergency.
