08/16/2017

Not All Self-Driving Milestones Are Equal

Source: Automotive News

This week, Audi claimed a victory in the race to autonomy: the first production vehicle capable of Level 3 self-driving functions. But in a highly competitive field in which companies rely on hype to stay in the conversation, announcements such as these warrant a closer look.

The Audi A8 sedan, introduced during the carmaker's technology summit in Barcelona, Spain, has a semiautonomous system called Traffic Jam Pilot that can take over driving responsibilities on divided highways at speeds up to 37 mph. The catch: While U.S. customers can buy these vehicles next year, Audi won't activate the system unless state governments permit Level 3 autonomy on public roads. With only 11 states having passed legislation on testing autonomous vehicles thus far, that's a significant catch.

So yes, Audi is first, but with a few caveats.

This cuts to the heart of the debate surrounding Level 3 autonomy. By definition, Level 3 means the car can handle certain driving situations on its own, but will still rely on human supervision and the ability of the driver to intervene at any moment. To some carmakers, that's not realistic — Ford, Waymo and others have publicly said they will skip Level 3 and move directly to Level 4 vehicles that require no human interaction in defined conditions. This caution is to be expected after the crash that killed​ Joshua Brown in a Tesla Model S operating with its semiautonomous Autopilot system, defined as Level 2 technology.

Audi's Traffic Jam Pilot sidesteps these concerns with its low speed limit and traffic barrier requirement, and by limiting the locations and situations in which it can be used.

So maybe on paper, this system is a first for the industry. But if the constraints discourage consumers from using it, then it's just another footnote in the history books.