IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - April 2017 - 126

the safe testing and deployment of
automated vehicles. In that guidance,
the DOT dropped its own classification
of "Levels of Automation" for driverless cars in favor of the levels defined
in the Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE) International's standard J3016,
Taxonomy and Definitions for Terms
Related to On-Road Motor Vehicle Automated Driving Systems. From SAE's
announcement of the adoption, its levels
are described as the following:
▼▼ Level 0-no automation: The fulltime performance by the human
driver of all aspects of the dynamic
driving task, even when enhanced by
warning or intervention systems.
▼▼ Level 1-driver assistance: The driving
mode-specific execution by a driver
assistance system of either steering or
acceleration/deceleration using information about the driving environment
and with the expectation that the human
driver performs all remaining aspects
of the dynamic driving task.
▼▼ Level 2-partial automation: The
driving mode-specific execution by
one or more driver assistance systems of both steering and acceleration/deceleration using information
about the driving environment and
with the expectation that the human
driver performs all remaining aspects
of the dynamic driving task.
▼▼ Level 3-conditional automation:
The driving mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic
driving task with the expectation that
the human driver will respond appropriately to a request to intervene.
▼▼ Level 4-high automation: The driving
mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of
the dynamic driving task, even if a
human driver does not respond appropriately to a request to intervene.
▼▼ Level 5-full automation: The full-time
performance by an automated driving
system of all aspects of the dynamic
driving task under all roadway and
environmental conditions that can be
managed by a human driver.
Many people, myself included, have
been lured into thinking of these levels as
a progression of steps to full automation.
126 IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

APRIL 2017

CTA is eager to see selfdriving vehicles come to
fruition because of their
potential for preventing
the vast majority of highway deaths and injuries
and for making drives
more pleasant.
As the title of the standard suggests, they
are a taxonomy and provide definitions,
but level 5 automation is not simply a
matter of cobbling together a collection
of driver assistance features from level 2.
Car companies are providing level 2
driver assistance to consumers today.
Tesla's autopilot feature is an example.
Car companies are also heavily re searching and testing level 4 automation,
particularly in conjunction with ridesharing companies including Uber and
Lyft. Until we get to level 4 automation,
drivers are still in charge of their cars.
Drivers will be able to benefit from the
safety and convenience that come from
increasing automation, but that (almost)
last step to level 4 is a big one and will
take time.
Because cars with level 4 automation
require such sophisticated sensors, data
fusion, and computing intelligence, consumers are most likely to experience this
level of automation through a mobility
service or fleet model that might be provided by a ridesharing company. There
are two simultaneous transformations taking place: one is in the car itself, and the
other is in car ownership and the way
mobility is provided to consumers. We
will see cars that fall into each of the SAE
levels of automation in the coming years,
but they may not roll out as a nice progression of models at your local car dealership.

THIRD MISCONCEPTION:
FULLY SELF-DRIVING CARS
NEED TO BE PERFECT
A former chairman of the U.S. National
Transportation Safety Board was quoted
in The Wall Street Journal as saying,
"We have to create perfection in the
collision-avoidance systems before we

have the car drive itself" [2]. Gary Shapiro, CTA's president and chief executive
officer, responded in a letter to the
editor, saying, "Each year, more than
30,000 Americans die and many more
are injured in car accidents, the vast
majority of which are caused by human
error. Driverless cars could eliminate
90% of these deaths and injuries. But if
we wait until this technology is perfect
before we deploy it, hundreds of thousands of lives will be lost. 'Perfect' is an
impossible expectation-but 'very
good' driverless technology will deliver
safer roads, enable more efficient travel
and save lives."
The statistics quoted previously are
not hyperbole. When the DOT released
its guidance for safe testing and deployment of automated vehicles, Dr. Mark
Rosekind of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said, "Ninetyfour percent of crashes on U.S. roadways
are caused by a human choice or error."
CTA is eager to see self-driving vehicles come to fruition, not just because of
their potential for preventing the vast
majority of highway deaths and injuries
but also for making everything from
daily commutes to long drives more
pleasant and less fatiguing. Driverless
cars also have the potential to provide
remarkable independence to seniors and
people with disabilities.
Drivers are clearly far from perfect,
and automated vehicles should not be
held to an impossible standard of perfection in a cycle of endless research
and development. We look forward to
working with auto manufacturers and
tech companies to make the benefits of
this exciting technology a reality.

REFERENCES
[1] B. Schoettle and M. Sivak. (2007, July).
Motorists' preferences for different levels of
vehicle automation. Univ. Michigan Transportation Res. Inst. Ann Arbor, MI. [Online].
Available: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/
bitstream/handle/2027.42/114386/103217
.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
[2] D. Michaels and A. Pasztor. (2016,
July 31). Aviation experts urge caution on
releasing self-driving cars. Wall Str. J.
[Online]. Available: http://www.wsj.com/
articles/aviation-experts-suggest-cautionreleasing-self-driving-cars-1469611801

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/ http://www.wsj.com/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - April 2017