Safe Autonomy

  Vehicle Automation Modes emphasize the responsibilities of a self-driving vehicle user By:  Dr. Philip Koopman , Carnegie Mellon University Now that the AV industry has backed away from SAE Levels, especially the highly problematic Level 3, it's time for a fresh look at operating modes of vehicle automation technology. Vehicle Automation Modes If you follow self-driving car technology it’s likely you’ve encountered the SAE Levels of automation. The SAE Levels range from 0 to 5, with higher numbers indicating driving automation technology with more control authority (but not a linear progression, and not necessarily higher levels of safety). Unfortunately, in public discussions there is significant confusion and misuse ( even abuse ) of that terminology. In large part that is because the SAE Levels are primarily based on an engineering view rather than the perspective of a person driving the car. We need a different categorization approach. One that emphasizes how drivers and orga

Speaker: Professor Philip Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University Video (33 minutes):    YouTube | Archive.org Slides: pdf format For a related pager with a lot more detail, see:  https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3969214 Abstract: Governance of who decides when and where to test and deploy autonomous vehicle (AV) technology--and on what basis--is a pressing problem. At the moment, an essentially opaque governance model is being run by the AV industry in the US. With few exceptions, companies do not follow industry safety standards, and are not required to. Public sentiment has soured to a degree as timelines have stretched and high profile crashes with injuries and deaths attributed to the technology mount. The industry frequently states that they cannot succeed without public trust, and indeed trust will be essential to riding through future adverse news cycles that will inevitably arrive. Nonetheless, the industry persists in practices that erode trust, including saf

This posting lists a number of major issues and concerns with the Pennsylvania legislation introduced in January 2022 to change how the Commonwealth regulates Highly Automated Vehicles (HAV). It deals with technical issues with the bill and especially aspects of safety. The short version is that this bill should NOT be passed without SIGNIFICANT  changes. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Op Ed covering J3018 and a brief mention of preemption: Autonomous vehicle safety bill needs improvement Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article covering bill , including City of Pittsburgh opposition to preemption. The bill: PA SB 965 The press conference by bill supporters (Jan 5, 2022) User Guide to SAE J3016 "SSRN paper" is Widen & Koopman, Autonomous Vehicle Regulation and Trust, SSRN,  https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3969214 A newer paper by Prof. Widen points out a slew of legal issues with the proposed bill, including discrimination against the poor:  https://papers.ssrn.com/