Testing
Testing vehicles with varying degrees of automation can be done physically, in closed environments, on public roads (where permitted, typically with a license or permit or adhering to a specific set of operating principles) or virtually, i.e. in computer simulations. When driven on public roads, automated vehicles require a person to monitor their proper operation and “take over” when needed. Apple is currently testing self-driven cars, and has increased the number of test vehicles from 3 to 27 in January 2018, and to 45 in March 2018.
One way to assess the progress of automated vehicles is to compute the average distance driven between “disengagements”, when the automated system is turned off, typically by a human driver. In 2017, Waymo reported 63 disengagements over 352,545 miles (567,366 km) of testing, or 5,596 miles (9,006 km) on average, the highest among companies reporting such figures. Waymo also traveled more distance in total than any other. Their 2017 rate of 0.18 disengagements per 1,000 miles (1,600 km) was an improvement from 0.2 disengagements per 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in 2016 and 0.8 in 2015. In March, 2017, Uber reported an average of 0.67 miles (1.08 km) per disengagement. In the final three months of 2017, Cruise Automation (now owned by GM) averaged 5,224 miles (8,407 km) per disruption over 62,689 miles (100,888 km). In July 2018, the first electric driverless racing car “Robocar” completed 1.8 kilometers track, using its navigation system and artificial intelligence.
Maker Distance between disengagements Distance
BMW 638 miles (1027 km) 638 miles (1027 km)
Bosch 0.68 miles (1.09 km) 983 miles (1582 km)
Delphi Automotive Systems 14.9 miles (24.0 km) 2658 miles (4278 km)
Ford 196.6 miles (316.4 km) 590 miles (950 km)
General Motors 54.7 miles (88.0 km) 8156 miles (13126 km)
Mercedes Benz 2 miles (3.2 km) 673 miles (1083 km)
Nissan 263.3 miles (423.7 km) 6056 miles (9746 km)
Tesla 2.9 miles (4.7 km) 550 miles (890 km)
Waymo 5127.9 miles (8252.6 km) 635868 miles (1023330 km)
Source: Wang, Brian (25 March 2018). “Uber’ self-driving system was still 400 times worse [than] Waymo in 2018 on key distance intervention metric”. NextBigFuture.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.