It will still take many years for autonomous driving to become an everyday reality. The dream of getting into a car without having to worry about holding the wheel and keeping an eye on traffic is still far away. At the moment, only in a few cities in some countries, such as the United States, China or Singapore, robotaxis can be found circulating in tests, which shows that the path to 100% autonomous driving is still in the development phase.
For now, autonomous driving still requires human intervention. The assisted driving systems that manufacturers have incorporated into some of their models still require the driver to always be attentive, with their hands on the wheel, to assume control of the car in the event of any contingency that may arise. A stage that the founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, believed would be surpassed by the end of 2023, at the latest, as he stated last summer in a speech at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai.
Brands such as Tesla, BMW, Ford or Volvo, among others, have developed semi-autonomous driving systems for their cars that already circulate in those countries where regulations allow their use on public roads. Germany is one of them and Spain could join this year, according to Susana Gómez, deputy deputy director general of Vehicles at the DGT, last November.
These level 3 autonomy driving systems – the maximum is level 5 – use a combination of sensors, cameras and advanced software to allow the vehicle to stay in its lane, adapt speed to traffic and perform other basic driving tasks. driving. Each system also monitors, through a camera, the driver’s movements to check that they are attentive to what is happening on the road and do not believe that the car is driving on them. Likewise, an acoustic warning alerts the motorist when it is necessary to take control of the vehicle.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an independent US organization dedicated to reducing losses resulting from traffic accidents, has measured the reliability of semi-autonomous driving systems. It analyzed several models to determine the effectiveness and safety of these technologies, and of the 14 tested, only one barely received a pass.
The Teammate system, which equips the Lexus LS, obtained an acceptable rating in a test that measured driver monitoring, attention alerts and other safety features incorporated into the software. The results, in general, were not satisfactory. “Most systems do not include adequate measures to prevent misuse and prevent drivers from losing concentration on what is happening on the road,” said IIHS President David Harkey.
The study, led by the organization’s principal investigator Alexandra Mueller, put the partial automation systems of BMW, Ford, General Motors, Genesis, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Tesla and Volvo under the microscope. It was about evaluating the safety systems of both the car and the driver’s participation in semi-autonomous driving, giving them a rating for each concept (driver monitoring, alerts, driver participation…).
Of the 14 systems analyzed, none obtained a good overall rating. The Teammate of the Lexus LS is the one that came out the best as he was the only one that obtained a fair pass, although it should be noted that he obtained the highest grade in four evaluated sections. General Motors’ Super Cruise and Nissan’s ProPILOT remain close to approved. The rest, including Autopilot and Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD), suspend.
“Some drivers may feel that partial automation makes long trips more comfortable, but there is little evidence that it makes driving safer,” Harkey said. The IIHS president added that the results are “concerning,” considering how quickly vehicles with these partial automation systems are hitting the roads. However, he noted that fixes can be achieved with a simple software update.
The evaluations made by Alexandra Müller, the director of the program, are not very positive either. “The deficiencies vary from one system to another. “Many vehicles do not adequately monitor whether the driver is looking at the road or is ready to take control.” The researcher also said that there are many attention systems that launch the alert too late or in a weak way “to wake up a driver whose mind is wandering.”