Is the Spec for Vehicle Automation Levels a Dead End?

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www.eetimes.eu, Nov. 15, 2021 – 

At the beginning of May, SAE International once again updated its levels of driving automation, as described in its J3016 standard (see table below). No taxonomy is better known or more widely referenced than J3016 in mapping the journey from human- to machine-driven vehicles.

I see two distinctly different roles for technology to improve safety on public roads: to make humans safer drivers, and to replace humans as drivers. However, these are two entirely independent development tracks that do not intersect.

They are parallel, not convergent.

The use of a sequential numbering system (from 0 to 5) has been widely misinterpreted to mean one level of J3016 leads on to the next. It does not. Broadly speaking, using technology to make human drivers into safer drivers roughly covers developments from Level 0 to Level 2; using technology to replace humans as drivers covers Levels 4 and 5.

The illusion of a continuum occurs at Level 3, whereby the machine drives until it doesn't and then the human is expected to assume both the driving task and legal liability. Practical experience tells us this is a nonsensical idea, backed up by countless videos of Tesla drivers seeking to trick Autopilot and decades of human factors research proving that humans cannot fulfill this responsibility safely.

Intentionally or not, J3016 has been misappropriated by startups and disruptors into a "race to Level 5," resulting in a widely held belief that technology for "low levels" of driving automation becomes obsolete with the development of "high levels" of driving automation.

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