If you are interested in the self-driving car ( / Autonomous Vehicles - AV ) space, and are looking for a more in-depth look at the various technical and non-technical challenges that need to be resolved before the self-driving cars can be common place in our society, then Coursera has launched a new course, which is available here.
It is structured as a Teachout, which is a format that encourages posing open ended question(s), soliciting potential approach(es) to solutions from student(s) and a learning format that encourages learning as much via peer interaction, along with the standard instructor-student interaction.
Many times in the self-driving car space, you will come across the term 'level(s) of autonomy'. These are defined by SAE ( Society of Automotive Engineers ). The snippet below is sourced from here :
- Level 0 – No Driving Automation = The performance by the driver of the entire DDT. Basically, systems under this level are found in conventional automobiles.
- Level 1 – Driver Assistance = A driving automation system characterized by the sustained and ODD-specific execution of either the lateral or the longitudinal vehicle motion control subtask of the DDT. Level 1 does not include the execution of these subtasks simultaneously. It is also expected that the driver performs the remainder of the DDT.
- Level 2 – Partial Driving Automation = Similar to Level 1, but characterized by both the lateral and longitudinal vehicle motion control subtasks of the DDT with the expectation that the driver completes the object and event detection and response (OEDR) subtask and supervises the driving automation system.
- Level 3 – Conditional Driving Automation = The sustained and ODD-specific performance by an ADS of the entire DDT, with the expectation that the human driver will be ready to respond to a request to intervene when issued by the ADS.
- Level 4 – High Driving Automation = Sustained and ODD-specific ADS performance of the entire DDT is carried out without any expectation that a user will respond to a request to intervene.
- Level 5 – Full Driving Automation = Sustained and unconditional performance by an ADS of the entire DDT without any expectation that a user will respond to a request to intervene. Please note that this performance, since it has no conditions to function, is not ODD-specific.
There is a lot of excitement in the space of autonomous vehicles. As per some studies, 90%+ of the accidents caused today, happen because of human errors. In view of this, obviously, it makes a lot of sense to automate that task. However, we should also realize that humans are able to handle several edge case / tricky scenario(s) in a fairly competent manner, and that unless the Autonomous Vehicle(s) ( AVs ) are subjected to a lot of testing, using them might increase accident(s) in the short term.
Here is a snippet from an article by Rand corp, establishing the scope of the effort required to prove the safety of AVs from a statistical stand point.
"
With a fleet of
100 autonomous vehicles being test-driven 24 hours a day, 365
days a year at an average speed of 25 miles per hour, this ( This is approximately 8.8 billion miles ) would
take about 400 years.
"
Hopefully, we are able to chip away successfully at the 400 year, with an gradual and calculated increase in the number of AVs and also with the use of high quality simulations.
