Car drivers misled and endangered by words like ‘autonomous’

Carmakers using the word ‘autonomous’ are lulling UK drivers into a false sense of security, says a new report. The warning from Thatcham Research and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) follows reports of drivers crashing because they are over-reliant on technology that is not fully autonomous. The partnership is now calling for manufacturers and legislators to clarify the capability of vehicles sold with technology that does some driving on behalf of motorists. Thatcham’s latest paper, Assi
June 13, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Carmakers using the word ‘autonomous’ are lulling UK drivers into a false sense of security, says a new report. The warning from Thatcham Research and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) follows reports of drivers crashing because they are over-reliant on technology that is not fully autonomous.  


The partnership is now calling for manufacturers and legislators to clarify the capability of vehicles sold with technology that does some driving on behalf of motorists.

Thatcham’s latest paper, Assisted and Automated Driving Definition and Assessment, has identified dangerous areas associated with some driver support technologies. These include misleading names such as Autopilot and ProPilot, which imply a level of autonomy that is currently unavailable. The document also explains how and when drivers should take back control of their vehicles.

Matthew Avery, head of research at Thatcham, says fully-autonomous vehicles – which do not require driver intervention - will not be available for many years. “Until then, drivers remain criminally liable for the safe use of their cars and, as such, the capability of current road vehicle technologies must not be oversold,” he adds.

Thatcham stresses the need for absolute clarity on how these technologies are designed to work and has created a list of %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external 10 key criteria false https://www.abi.org.uk/globalassets/files/publications/public/motor/2018/06/thatcham-research-assisted-and-automated-driving-definitions-summary-june-2018.pdf false false%> that every assisted vehicle must meet for it to become ‘automated’. These include giving adequate notice to drivers in situations where they need to take back control. In addition, vehicles must be able to arrive at an appropriate ‘safe stop’ if they are unable to continue, or if the driver fails to intervene.

James Dalton, director of general insurance policy at ABI, says: “Manufacturers must be responsible in how they describe and name what their vehicles can do, and the insurance industry is ready to hold them to account on this.”

UTC

Related Content

  • June 13, 2019
    AVs could have ‘huge value’ in inner cities
    Autonomous vehicles (AVs) could have value as the mainstay of inner city transport networks in future. “It’s pure speculation, but we are likely to see more segregated road networks,” said Chris Hayhurst, European consulting manager at MathWorks. For example, level 5 (completely driverless) AVs could simply be used to pick up and drop off people in the centre of a town. “In an inner city where there are no conventional cars at all it could have huge value,” he added. Hayhurst spoke to ITS Internat
    Read More
  • January 5, 2018
    Hyundai and Aurora partner to develop Level 4 AVs by 2021
    Aurora’s self-driving technology will be incorporated into Hyundai Motor’s (Hyundai) vehicles in an agreement to bring Level 4 autonomy to market by 2021. The partnership aims to deploy autonomous driving quickly, broadly and safely with Hyundai’s new generation fuel-cell vehicle to be the first test model this year. In the long term, both companies will work to commercialize these vehicles worldwide. The project will initially focus on the ongoing development of hardware and software for automated and
    Read More
  • October 30, 2018
    Maven expands peer-to-peer car-share service
    General Motors’ subsidiary Maven is expanding its peer-to-peer car-share option to more US cities. The service – which sees owners renting out their vehicles - is currently available in four urban areas: Ann Arbor, Chicago, Denver and Detroit. But GM says it will now be rolled out in Baltimore, Boston, Jersey City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC by the end of the year. Owners can rent out their GM car, so long as it is registered in 2015 or later, with Maven taking 40% of each rental. Despi
    Read More
  • December 21, 2018
    USDoT calls for comment on V2X integration
    The US Department of Transportation (USDoT) is seeking public comment on how Vehicle to Everything (V2X) technology should be integrated into the transport environment. The organisation says it intends to maintain the priority use of 5.9Ghz spectrum for transportation safety communications. It points out that the automotive industry and local authorities “are already deploying V2X technology and actively utilising all seven channels of the 5.9 GHz band” and says that technology such as Cellular-V2X (C-V2
    Read More

Highlighted Content