First, let’s define what we mean by “self-driving”. The SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers, USA) has defined six levels of driving automation as mentioned below:
Level 0 - The human driver performs all driving functions
Level 1 - Some level of driver assistance (either adaptive cruise control or lane keeping / centering)
Level 2 - Partial driver automation (both adaptive cruise control and lane centering) but driver must maintain awareness (hands on wheel, eyes on road, or both)
Level 3 - Conditional driver automation (human may take hands off the wheel and read a book under specified conditions but must intervene when instructed to do so by the vehicle)
ADS in Control Level 4 - High automation (human does not ever need to intervene as long as the car is operating under specific operating conditions such as specific city streets and/or campus shuttles)
Level 5 - Full automation (human never needs to intervene)
Levels 3-5 are considered Automated Driving Systems (ADSs) in which the driver does not need to pay attention to the road. At Level 3, the driver can read a book or watch a movie but must be able to take over control within 10-60 seconds if asked to do so by the vehicle. One big issue for Level 3 vehicles is that a crash might occur in the 10 seconds the driver spends taking over, so Level 3 vehicles will probably need to include an Operational Design Domain (ODD) where 10 seconds is reasonably safe (e.g. low-speed highway traffic jams).
Level 4 vehicles are constrained to an ODD, which typically includes constrained geography (for example, a small number of streets in a city), and may also include other restrictions based on the weather, time of day, precipitation, road grades and curvature, and other factors. This is how Level 4 vehicles differ from Level 5 vehicles. Theoretically, Level 5 vehicles can effectively replace passenger cars and commercial trucks because they are unrestricted and can travel anywhere.
Today's consumer vehicles include a wide variety of driver-aid features, including Teslas. They may automatically accelerate and brake as well as maintain the car centred in its lane. In India, there are manufacturers like Mahindra and MG who have already introduced ADAS in some of their latest SUVs.
However, reading a book or watching a movie while driving is not safe. The driver must keep a steady eye on the road and be prepared to take over at any time. Since they are Level 2 and 3 vehicles, they are not fully ADSs. Drivers need to focus on the road and be prepared to take control at any time.
But will self-driving vehicles actually be safer? The biggest issue for the automotive industry revolves around handling unexpected situations that arise from edge cases. There are good reasons to believe that some types of autonomous vehicles may not be capable of handling these edge cases.
When something unexpected happens while driving, like a stray dog darting onto the road, people utilise common sense and reasoning to deal with it. There may be routes impassable or difficult to travel on during a flood or on a ghat road.
All of these potential edge scenarios are not covered in driving school. Instead, we forecast events and act using everyday common sense reasoning. When a ball rolls onto the sidewalk, we know to watch out for kids pursuing it. When we notice the car in front of us swerving, we adjust our driving style because we assume the driver may be inebriated or texting.
Moreover, computer vision systems are prone to errors because they can be tricked in ways that people cannot, which is another problem for ADSs. Some American researchers demonstrated how; for instance, small adjustments to a speed limit sign could trick a machine learning system into believing it reads 85 kmph rather than 35 kmph. Similar to this, some hackers created a fake lane using brightly colored stickers to deceive Tesla's autopilot into changing lanes. Both times, these modifications deceived automobiles but not people.
Unfortunately, no one knows how to build commonsense and reasoning into cars, or into computers in general. In lieu of commonsense reasoning capabilities, ADS developers must anticipate and code every possible situation.
There are millions, maybe billions of these edge cases. Everyone has at least one unusual driving story. There are 1.4 billion drivers in the world. If there are 1.4 billion of these edge cases, how can they possibly all be identified much less coded?
Split-second decisions, rapidly changing weather conditions, being able to look into another driver’s eyes at a crossroads – these are real-life conditions best left for an engaged driver. Technology can undoubtedly be enormously helpful; in some instances, some of the new automotive assist technologies can be lifesaving when properly used. But driving is complicated; roads, lanes, and conditions vary, and the same actions aren’t always the best under all circumstances.
And if ADSs cannot perform commonsense reasoning to handle all these edge cases, are they really safer than human drivers? This is a question that does not possibly seem to have an answer in the near future.
31-year-old Ankur Pradhan, son of the former Sambalpur MP Amar Pradhan, along with two of his friends Gautam and Parmeet, was returning to Bhubaneswar from Cuttack in a Jaguar XF late last night at around 2 am, when the vehicle lost its control, hit a roadside tree and fell into a canal. The freak accident captured in a CCTV camera purportedly shows that it was a result of high-speed driving.
The impact was so severe that despite inflation of the airbags deployed to provide a cushion and help reduce the damage to the body during accidents, not a single life could be saved. The airbags reportedly burst during the crash, sources said.
Life has dealt the former MP some cruel blows - Amar Pradhan had lost his wife Mausumi some years back in a car accident, and now his only son Ankur passed away in a similar mishap. Ankur's death has left his father lonely forever.
The ex-MP's son had recently got engaged and was set to marry in a few days. Death of Ankur and his friends is extremely saddening, expressed Ankur's uncle Prabhas Pradhan.
Narayan Jena, an eyewitness said, "Maybe because it was being driven at a very high speed, the driver could not take the vehicle in the correct direction. Subsequently, they lost their way and collided with a tree and then fell into a roadside canal. The shattered glasses and the mangled pieces of the luxury car speak volumes about the intensity of the accident."
Meanwhile, police have registered a case and initiated an inquiry. Speaking on the incident, Cuttack DCP Prateek Singh stated, "The vehicle was completely damaged. It took some time to extract the persons trapped inside the car. One flaw that is apparent is that the overspeeding of the vehicle is one of the factors." All three were rushed to the SCB Medical College and Hospital where the doctors declared them as brought dead.
Even though such expensive cars are equipped with airbags, no safety innovation seems a solution to reduce fatalities which occur mainly due to rash driving and overspeeding of vehicles. "The car dashboard will fire an air balloon during collisions but if the vehicle is exceeding 100 km/hr speed limit, then airbags don't function the way they should. Such luxury vehicles also need proper roads, which was not the case here," said an expert.
In a very similar accident which took place on the Puri-Konark marine drive in 2018, a person lost his life and three others were injured after a suspected drag race between a BMW and an Audi. Both the vehicles were being driven by two friends who had gone to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Police later confirmed that the accident was a result of high-speed racing amid dense foggy conditions in the wee hours.
The message is loud and clear - Love your car(s), but love your life even more.
https://youtu.be/G0YIxw8wnbY