How do we know that autonomous vehicles (AV) are safe for nationwide deployment? This simple but fundamental question plagues industry, government officials and the public, at large.
The recent events reveal the fundamental problem limiting nationwide deployment of AVs. On October 2, 2023 a Cruise AV hit a pedestrian in San Francisco. Follow-up investigations exposed numerous pedestrian crashes and safety problems with Cruise, a General Motors-led venture. On October 24, California Department of Transportation suspended the Cruise permit to operate in the state.
Arizona presents another example. In 2015, Governor Ducey opened the door with an executive order welcoming autonomous and connected vehicles to research, build and test in our state. At that time, there was very little evidence of how safe these vehicles were to deploy on our roadways.
Three years later, on March 1, 2018, Ducey issued another executive order with more leeway for AV testing on our roadways, again with only a limited safety record. Eighteen days later, on March 18, Elaine Herzberg was killed in Tempe by an Uber-owned AV. Shortly thereafter, Uber stopped testing AVs.
The problem: There’s no standard safety test or regulation for robotic cars. AVs operate based solely on permissions granted by state and local authorities. And after disastrous events, those permissions can be suddenly revoked. Companies can be run-out-of-town.
Who Regulates Autonomous, Self-Driving Vehicles?
Transportation safety laws are divided between federal and state statutes. The federal government regulates the vehicle safety features (e.g., seatbelt and airbag mandates) whereas the states regulate the driver (e.g., issues driver licenses) and vehicle registration. AVs fall in a gray area.
Federal authorities say they’re concerned about safety, but have stopped short of taking any action that would slow the billion-dollar AV industry. The U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration have issued several policy reports essentially asking the AV companies to make safety a priority and asking the states to take responsibility for monitoring the activities in their states. Federal bipartisan lawmakers have attempted to set down some rules to govern AVs but have consistently stalled due to disagreements about the extent and details required to regulate but not impede the future of AVs. Such differences about how to address cybersecurity threats and what to do about data compiled from AVs have slowed progress in this area.
The regulations among the states is evolving, and frankly, difficult to pinpoint. According to a January 2023 Motor Trend magazine article, 27 states had various rules allowing some form of vehicle with autonomous driving technology. Most require a driver to be behind the wheel in order to assume control in an emergency.
This level of permission, giving AV companies the opportunity to deploy and test driverless vehicles on our roadways is rather remarkable since we still do not have a standardized test to objectively qualify these vehicles as safe.
Academia Attempts to Fill the Void
Professor Junfeng Zhao at Arizona State University has created the Battery Electric & Intelligent Vehicle (BELIV) lab. He wants to create a safety qualification test for autonomous vehicles. He has taken on this herculean task working together with other academic and research institutions around the country to create a battery of tests to evaluate the readiness of these AV’s for widespread deployment.
Dr. Zhao envisions a composite of test procedures. For instance, there might be some miles driven on public roads (like a typical driver’s test), some miles driven on closed circuit test-beds (like a test track), some miles performed in a simulation laboratory and virtual reality testing (like a video game challenge), and some component testing (can the camera’s recognize obstacles in poor lighting?).
A key challenge is to construct a library of realistic road situations upon which to test the AVs systems. In 2015 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offered some guidance by publishing the most common pre-crash scenarios. Surprisingly, only four types of crashes account for 84% of all crashes. They are rear end crashes, turning or crossing in an intersection, running off the edge of the road and changing lanes. While these categories can form the basis of the library of test cases, they would have to be altered to account for many other factors nationwide. Road and weather conditions, visibility, urban and rural setting are just a few.
Furthermore, unusual or “edge” cases would also need to be included. For example, what should an AV do if a ball rolls into its path? Or a skateboarder? How does an AV react when it sees cars line up for a busy one-lane bridge? Or restrictions due to emergency vehicles? Or a police cruiser in a high-speed chase? Or, as recently demonstrated by the Cruise AV pedestrian crash, can an AV detect a pedestrian falling into its path after being hit by another vehicle? The list is limitless and choosing a representative set will be challenging.
Similar research is also taking place on other campuses, such as the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon. However, how and what to test is only part of the answer to constructing a nationwide safety qualification test. Then there is the acceptance problem.
When Will Autonomous Vehicles Be Deployed Nationwide?
In order for the billion-dollar industry to deploy AVs nationwide, there will need to be a national registration or certification test. Even if academia succeeds in creating a thorough test, it may not be accepted by all stakeholders. It’s more likely the AV industry will start to cooperate instead of compete. Together, they will propose a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which all AV companies agree to use one qualifying procedure and set of test cases.
Federal regulators would assess the MOU, then consult consumer safety advocates and the states. The public could become part of this permission process. Even with all these steps, the MOU route would probably be faster than the usual regulatory process which takes many years.
No matter how it happens, it’s high time to ensure these robots can safely share our roads … or send them packing back to the laboratory.
AV FAQ
Is there a safety test for autonomous, self-driving vehicles?
There’s no standard safety test or regulation for robotic cars. AVs operate based solely on permissions granted by state and local authorities. And after disastrous events, those permissions can be suddenly revoked. Companies can be run-out-of-town.
Who regulates autonomous, self-driving vehicles?
Transportation safety laws are divided between federal and state statutes. The federal government regulates the vehicle safety features (e.g., seatbelt and airbag mandates) whereas the states regulate the driver (e.g., issues driver licenses) and vehicle registration. AVs fall in a gray area.
When will autonomous, self-driving vehicles be deployed nationwide?
In order for the billion-dollar industry to deploy AVs nationwide, there will need to be a national registration or certification test. That currently does not exist.
The post Are Autonomous Vehicles Safe? appeared first on The Auto Professor.
