Fields of application
Automated trucks
Several companies are said to be
testing automated technology in semi trucks. Otto, a self-driving
trucking company that was acquired by Uber in August 2016, demonstrated
their trucks on the highway before being acquired. In May 2017, San
Francisco-based startup Embark announced a partnership with truck
manufacturer Peterbilt to test and deploy automated technology in
Peterbilt’s vehicles. Waymo has also said to be testing automated
technology in trucks, however no timeline has been given for the
project.
In March 2018, Starsky Robotics, the San Francisco-based
automated truck company, completed a 7-mile (11 km) fully driverless
trip in Florida without a single human in the truck. Starsky Robotics
became the first player in the self-driving truck game to drive in fully
automated mode on a public road without a person in the cab. In Europe,
the truck Platooning is considered with the Safe Road Trains for the
Environment approach.Vehicular automation also covers other kinds of
vehicles such as Buses, Trains, Trucks. Lockheed Martin with funding
from the U.S. Army developed an automated truck convoying system that
uses a lead truck operated by a human driver with a number of trucks
following autonomously. Developed as part of the Army’s Autonomous
Mobility Applique System (AMAS), the system consists of an automated
driving package that has been installed on more than nine types of
vehicles and has completed more than 55,000 hours of driving at speeds
up to 64 kilometres per hour (40 mph) as of 2014. As of 2017 the Army
was planning to field 100-200 trucks as part of a rapid-fielding
program.
Transport systems
In Europe, cities in Belgium, France, Italy
and the UK are planning to operate transport systems for automated cars,
and Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain have allowed public testing in
traffic. In 2015, the UK launched public trials of the LUTZ Pathfinder
automated pod in Milton Keynes. Beginning in summer 2015, the French
government allowed PSA Peugeot-Citroen to make trials in real conditions
in the Paris area. The experiments were planned to be extended to other
cities such as Bordeaux and Strasbourg by 2016. The alliance between
French companies THALES and Valeo (provider of the first self-parking
car system that equips Audi and Mercedes premi) is testing its own
system. New Zealand is planning to use automated vehicles for public
transport in Tauranga and Christchurch.
In China, Baidu and King Long
produce automated minibus, a vehicle with 14 seats, but without driving
seat. With 100 vehicles produced, 2018 will be the first year with
commercial automated service in China. Those minibuses should be at
level 4, that is driverless in closed roads.
Potential advantages
Safety
Driving safety experts predict that once driverless technology has been
fully developed, traffic collisions (and resulting deaths and injuries
and costs), caused by human error, such as delayed reaction time,
tailgating, rubbernecking, and other forms of distracted or aggressive
driving should be substantially reduced. Consulting firm McKinsey &
Company estimated that widespread use of autonomous vehicles could
“eliminate 90% of all auto accidents in the United States, prevent up
to US$190 billion in damages and health-costs annually and save
thousands of lives.”
According to motorist website “TheDrive.com”
operated by Time magazine, none of the driving safety experts they were
able to contact were able to rank driving under an autopilot system at
the time (2017) as having achieved a greater level of safety than
traditional fully hands-on driving, so the degree to which these
benefits asserted by proponents will manifest in practice cannot be
assessed. Confounding factors that could reduce the net effect on safety
may include unexpected interactions between humans and partly or fully
automated vehicles, or between different types of vehicle system;
complications at the boundaries of functionality at each automation
level (such as handover when the vehicle reaches the limit of its
capacity); the effect of the bugs and flaws that inevitably occur in
complex interdependent software systems; sensor or data shortcomings;
and successful compromise by malicious interveners.
Welfare
Automated
cars could reduce labor costs; relieve travelers from driving and
navigation chores, thereby replacing behind-the-wheel commuting hours
with more time for leisure or work; and also would lift constraints on
occupant ability to drive, distracted and texting while driving,
intoxicated, prone to seizures, or otherwise impaired. For the young,
the elderly, people with disabilities, and low-income citizens,
automated cars could provide enhanced mobility. The removal of the
steering wheel—along with the remaining driver interface and the
requirement for any occupant to assume a forward-facing position—would
give the interior of the cabin greater ergonomic flexibility. Large
vehicles, such as motorhomes, would attain appreciably enhanced ease of
use.