Autonomous Vehicle 101 - Introduction

Autonomous Vehicle 101 - Introduction

No other engineering invention in the human history has fascinated mankind like the Cars. Cars are the epitome of Art meeting Engineering. People love their cars more than other personal possessions. An average American spends almost 2 hours in their Car every day. The amount of time people spends in taking care of their car is much more than that.

While Automotive were evolving two major factors were always playing in designer’s mind: Comfort and Safety. Cars being a fast selling good in a highly competitive market required constant innovation catering to customers and making a differentiation in the market.

The need for autonomy was understood quite early. Objective was to reduce human efforts while driving and reduce dependence on humans for taking safety critical decisions. When it comes to safety Humans generally do not believe in humans.

In recent years this concept has picked up speed with every major Automotive OEM and independent companies jumping into the field. Intense research is going on to develop a fully autonomous vehicle. A vehicle which can take all decisions on its own while taking its passengers from point A to point B.

Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has identified Six level of Autonomy.

  • Level 0: No Automation, Driver is responsible for all the actions
  • Level 1 : Driver Assistance : Driver assist system providing instructions/warning to Driver to take action. Mostly for steering and speed
  • Level 2 : Partial Autonomy : Some function are automated but Driver is very much in control of the car
  • Level 3 : Conditional Autonomy: Cars behave in an automated way for a specific driving/environment condition Drive attention is required.
  • Level 4 : High Automation : Autonomous functions take over in many instances, Driver attention is highly reduced.
  • Level 5: Full Automation : System is in control of everything. No need for driver

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Most of the passenger car companies have a Level 3 compatible model. However, it requires intense trials followed by government/legal approvals before it can be launched in the market. Mercedes-Benz has launched first L3 compatible model in US last year. Currently this model is only permitted in US state of California and Nevada. In Germany DrivePilot compatible Mercedes-Benz S class and EQS models are sold since 2022

On the taxi side, Waymo and Cruise have deployed their services of driverless taxis in limited areas in US. These taxis can be classified as level 4 autonomous vehicles. While they are driverless, they operate only on limited route and geographical areas making them conditional autonomous.

?This article gives you a simple idea of why there is a need for autonomy in vehicles and what is the current state of autonomy in the commercially available vehicles in the market. So far, i have kept it focused on passenger vehicles but in future articles we will also explore how Autonomy is changing the commercial vehicle ecosystem.


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