Car 101: the five Levels of autonomous driving

Thursday, 22 August 2019

Watch: how future self-driving cars might be able to tap into your brain.

Autonomous driving technology is a hot topic at the moment.

Like many automotive technologies that are hot topics (electric power, airless tyres, flying cars) it's easy to think that it's happening right now at high speed and will take over the motoring landscape before your next birthday.

In reality, while there have been great strides in self-driving technology in the last decade, we're still on quite a long path.

We've come a very long way in a short time. But truly autonomous cars are not here yet.

That path has steps that have been agreed upon by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), which has released an international standard that defines the six 'Levels' of driving automation.

**READ MORE:

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That's good, because it means when carmakers and governments talk about autonomous technology, you can be sure they're all talking about the same thing.

Tesla is aggressively pursuing autonomous technology. But its production cars are still at Level 2.

The Levels help us understand where we are now and where we need to go to make self-driving cars a reality.

Let's not worry about Level 0, because that simply means no assistance - except perhaps passive stuff like blind-spot warning and forward collision alert.

Automated cars are packed with sensors that see right around the car.

But what about the others?

New Audi A8 can self-drive in some situations, but driver must still be able to intervene. No, it's not a Tesla (but it is red).

Level 1: Driver assistance

Level 1 vehicles can handle the steering to a limited degree, as well as the throttle and brakes, but not in all circumstances, and the driver has to be ready to take over if necessary.

Some people will tell you they have a self-driving vehicle now. They're fooling you.

That means the driver must remain aware of what the car is doing at all times. Most modern cars with radar cruise control and higher level lane keep assist systems fall into this category. That includes many mainstream models like the Suzuki Swift and Toyota Corolla.

2: Partial assistance

Steering, braking and throttle can be partially automated, but the car lets the driver take over any time they want. The system also alerts the driver to take over when the car doesn't know what to do.

General Motors has been using the Bolt EV as a base for Level 4 and Level 5 testing.

While the car can monitor its surroundings and other traffic, the driver is still ultimately responsible, as well as needing to monitor the weather and road conditions and be ready to take over if necessary.

The Mercedes-Benz E-class, BMW 5 and 7-series and all Tesla models are Level 2 cars.

There is nothing beyond Level 2 currently on sale to the public in NZ.

3: Conditional assistance

Steering wheel? Where we're going we don't need a steering wheel.

The car monitors surroundings and takes care of all steering, braking and throttle inputs in certain environments, such as slow traffic and motorways.

The car is also capable of making some decisions on its own, such as changing lanes if it is safe to do so. However, the driver must always be ready to intervene if the car requests.

My pod is your pod: first Level 5 cars might be shared taxis limited to certain public roads. Still with racing stripes though.

Many people are confused about about the relationship between Levels 2 and 3; because Level 2 cars can physically control steering and throttle, even to the point of negotiating corners and changing lanes without driver intervention, some consider them to be 'self-driving' or Level 3. But they're not and require the driver to be in control at all times.

The German government has asked domestic carmakers to avoid using misleading terminology that might suggest cars are Level 3 when they are really Level 2 - for example, 'assistance' is better than 'pilot'.

Tesla has been criticised for its use of the brand 'Autopilot' to describe its Level 2 features.

The Audi A8 was the first production car in the world to have Level 3 features, but they only work in certain driving situations and at lower speeds. These featuress have not yet been tested and certified for use on NZ roads.

4: High automation

The car handles steering, braking and throttle, as well as monitoring the surroundings and other traffic in a much wider range of environments, conditions and speeds.

In other words, the car can truly drive itself from A to B if the conditions are right.

However, unusual situations and extreme conditions, such as severe weather, will still require the driver to take over.

The driver is also responsible for switching on the automatic driving functions, but after that the car can handle most things it will come across in ordinary conditions, such as your daily commute to work.

5: Full automation

A Level 5 car might not even have a steering wheel. The occupant only has to set the destination and start the car, then the technology handles everything else.

It's likely a Level 5 car will have technology that talks to other vehicles on the road ('car-to-car') and even to infrastructure like traffic lights and parking buildings ('car-to-X').

While we are almost up to Level 3, the jumps required for the next two are big, so we won't be seeing them terribly soon. But they are most certainly coming.

Expect the first Level 5 vehicles to be share-cars that operate on a limited roading network where every possible traffic occurrence has been considered and prepared for - in fact, many such shuttle services are being tested around the world, including Christchurch airport in NZ.

However, these are extremely limited in scope - more like giant slot cars than autonomous vehicles that can make decisions and find their own way through varying traffic conditions.

From there, self-driving technology will expand across the motoring world. But not for many years yet.