Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - July 2021 - 20

ADAS
did you choose " driver-support " rather than
" driver-assist? "
In March, Honda released its SENSING Elite driver-assist system in Japan,
which the company claimed is the first-ever driver-assist system to be
certified as SAE Level 3 by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism (MLIT).
Safety and Human Factors Steering Committee that
also has a Driving Automation committee that's
working on the HMI aspects of driving automation,
and that group already has published a J3114 document
with definitions; it's doing an update of that document
as well as coming out with a new document, J3196,
that will address certain guidance aspects of driver
monitoring for driving-automation features. There are
no Level 2 systems on the road that do not have some
form of driver-monitoring system.
Also in the SAE release on the J3016 update
is the term 'dual-mode vehicle;' what is that?
That's still a hypothetical vehicle. Nobody has
designed one yet, but it's theoretically possible - it's
a Level 5 vehicle owned by a private person. It can
be operated by the ADS or by a human. The vehicle
could be dispatched in driverless operation to, for
example, pick up someone from the airport, or it
could be driven as a conventional vehicle. It's dualmode
in that sense. Theoretically, it's also capable
of Level 4, but the utility of a geofenced, dual-mode
Level 4 vehicle might not support a business case. So
it's being thought of more as a Level 5 vehicle that
also is operable by a human.
It looks like you're now using the term " driver-support
systems " as a counterpoint to " automated
driving systems. "
That's right.
By using that term, it appears you're taking
the emphasis off of automation. But why
It just came out that way. We were already using 'assist'
and 'assistance' in other parts of the document's definitions.
And 'driver support' is a pretty well-known
term in the human-factors realm. Again, we were
trying to draw a very bright line between Levels 0, 1
and 2, and Levels 3, 4 and 5, where the ADS performs
the complete DDT [dynamic driving task] while it's
engaged to free up the person in the driver's seat - if
there is a person involved - to do other things.
This reminds me of something I didn't answer
earlier: Level 2-Plus: There is no such thing as Level
2-Plus or Level 3- or 4-Plus; we tried to make that very
clear. There are no in-betweens! Either the person in the
driver's seat is a fallback-ready user or a passenger, or
it's a Level 0, 1 or 2-equipped vehicle. You can't say that
the vehicle performs the complete DDT under nominal
conditions - except sometimes it screws up, so you have
to continue paying attention. Because that's not an ADS.
That leads to the mention of another question:
the press release mentions the " fallback-ready
user " and also mentions " automated fallback. "
What does " automated fallback " mean?
At Level 3, the fallback-ready user is responsible for
performing the fallback. Realistically, and the German
government has already implemented this in law, you
cannot turn over the DDT to the fallback-ready user in
safety- and time-critical situations. That doesn't make sense.
Basically, the vehicle has to be able to manage all
safety- and time-critical situations, and then turn over
control to the fallback-ready user to either manually
drive the vehicle (if it can still be driven) or get it off
the road, if possible. That's Level 3. In Level 4, the ADS
must perform the fallback automatically.
What we said is that at Level 3, the vehicle may,
sometimes, perform the fallback. It may sense a system
failure and pull over to the shoulder, if one happens to
be available. But it can't guarantee that it will always
do that - for example, if the failure occurs on a bridge
without any road shoulders - which is what makes
it still a Level 3 and not a Level 4. It may have some
automated fallback capability, but can't guarantee it will
always achieve a minimal-risk condition on its own.
20 July 2021
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE ENGINEERING
Honda
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - July 2021
