Falling asleep in an AV… but what happens next?

Sleeping while a driverless car speeds you to your destination has long been touted as the dream of the new technology – and something of a nightmare for safety campaigners. A new video from the BBC shows exactly what happens if a driver falls asleep in an autonomous vehicle (AV). In the filmed test, the AV prompts the driver to resume control when approaching roadworks on a motorway. When the driver fails to act, the vehicle comes to a halt and automatically parks in a lay-by. Motor industry research
September 18, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Sleeping while a driverless car speeds you to your destination has long been touted as the dream of the new technology – and something of a nightmare for safety campaigners.

A new %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external video false https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-49652566/what-happens-if-you-fall-asleep-in-a-self-driving-car false false%> from the 4967 BBC shows exactly what happens if a driver falls asleep in an autonomous vehicle (AV).

In the filmed test, the AV prompts the driver to resume control when approaching roadworks on a motorway. When the driver fails to act, the vehicle comes to a halt and automatically parks in a lay-by.

Motor industry research organisation Thatcham Research wants this capability to be mandatory in autonomous systems.

Thatcham’s Matthew Avery says: “Vehicle manufacturers are advocating that its fine for the vehicle to stop in lane. We simply don’t think that’s safe. We say that vehicle manufacturers mustn’t leave a vehicle in the middle of the lane. If the driver doesn’t respond, pull the vehicle over, out of the running traffic.”

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

BBC

Related Content

  • Companies depend on automation, AI and machine learning for cyber security
    February 23, 2018
    To defend against cyber attacks, 39% of organisations are reliant on automation, 34% on machine learning and 32% on artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Cisco 2018 annual report conducted on 3,600 chief information security officers. It found that over half of all attacks resulted in financial damages of more than $500,000 (£697,000), including, but not limited to, lost revenue, clients, opportunities, and out-of-pocket costs. The study revealed that adversaries are using Malware sophistication
    Read More
  • Uber: AB5 ‘does not automatically reclassify’ drivers
    September 18, 2019
    Business life may be about to get trickier for transportation network companies following the passing of a new law in California which aims to give gig economy workers more rights. Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), which is due to come into effect in January next year, says that “a person providing labour or services for remuneration shall be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor” - unless three points are proved. One, that “the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the con
    Read More
  • Big bonus with GeBE’s Compact Plus printer
    March 19, 2018
    GeBE now supplies its GeBE Compact Plus printer in a new design, with a pre-assembled presentation unit to prevent damage when handling. Until the final hand-over of the ticket, the presenter keeps the printout back, not allowing the user to pull it too early. If the printout is not taken within a specified time, the sensitive data remains protected by the return transport to the inside of the case using the paper-reject function.
    Read More
  • Los Angeles launches own ‘Green New Deal’
    May 2, 2019
    The city of Los Angeles has released what it calls ‘LA’s Green New Deal’, pledging $860 million per year “to expand the transportation system”. Electric vehicles are at the fore: it pledges an $8 billion upgrade to the city’s electricity grid by 2022, to help build the US’s “largest, cleanest and most reliable urban electrical grid to power the next generation of green transportation”. The city authorities will “expand electric car sharing options” and support implementation of Metro’s first/last mile pl
    Read More

Highlighted Content