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.”

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • ST Engineering to develop ITS and AV technology in Israel
    November 5, 2018
    Singapore technology company ST Engineering intends to develop ITS and autonomous vehicle (AV) capabilities in Israel following an agreement with the municipality of Ashdod. The scope of the agreement includes ITS for roads and a fleet management system for buses.
    Read More
  • Enhanced WISETRIP final event
    August 20, 2014
    The Enhanced WISETRIP final event, which takes place in Brussels on 29 August, will provide an opportunity to showcase the achievements of the Enhanced WISETRIP project and contribute to the debate on priorities for delivering EU-wide multi-modal travel information. Enhanced WISETRIP has developed a unified intermodal planner for international journeys which incorporates functions for planning, booking and travelling multimodal journeys adapted to user needs including multiple trip criteria, environment
    Read More
  • Moovit: Gut feelings no match for data
    August 7, 2019
    Cities that bring in mobility services without data might be missing out on areas where demand is highest. Ben Spencer talks to Moovit’s Alon Shantzer about how the company is helping customers to pinpoint the right locations Launching mobility services without taking into account public transportation data can lead to chaos in cities. That’s the view of Alon Shantzer, vice president international sales at Moovit, the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provider and transit app. “The data we have can define
    Read More
  • ITS Australia appoints first academic to board of directors
    November 30, 2018
    ITS Australia has appointed Professor Majid Sarvi from the University of Melbourne to its board of directors. Sarvi, the founder of transport technology programme AIMES, is the first academic to join the board. AIMES (Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem) includes the university’s live test bed on Melbourne’s streets, and has close links with Michigan Department of Transportation. Sarvi described it as a “great honour to be elected by my peers in the ITS industry and to have the opportunity t
    Read More

Highlighted Content