5 ms·

Levels of driving automation is an ill-defined concept. For example, L4 is defined as "mind-off". According to Wikipedia, "the driver may safely go to sleep or

by strin 9y ago

Levels of driving automation is an ill-defined concept. For example, L4 is defined as "mind-off". According to Wikipedia, "the driver may safely go to sleep or leave the driver's seat. Self driving is supported only in limited areas (geofenced) or under special circumstances, like traffic jams. Outside of these areas or circumstances, the vehicle must be able to safely abort the trip, i.e. park the car, if the driver does not retake control." However, the difficulty of driving varies so much from case to case. City is significantly more complex than urban areas. If some company geofence the cars in urban areas and achieve level 4, it might be less impressive say a Level-3 system that works in complex city scenarios and extreme weather conditions.

jacquesm 9y ago
> the driver may safely go to sleep or leave the driver's seat That's going to be hard to do while you are wearing a seatbelt and I don't see seatbelt laws rescinded just because a vehicle is self driving until car accidents are exceedingly rare.
- sangnoir 9y ago
  That's because the current seats and belts are not designed for comfortable sleeping. This can change if the vehicle has L4 autonomy - the interior can be redesigned to from the ground-up to accommodate sleeping. Airplanes seats have set the precedence of having seat-belts whilst allowing for sleep.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Airplane seatbelts are only mandatory during take-off and landing as well as turbulence. It will be a very long time before any kind of driving is as safe as commercial air travel.
    - sangnoir 9y ago
      I wasn't talking about the laws, I was referring to the comfort baked into the design: I have slept while flying with my seat-belt on; it's not uncomfortable. While not legally mandated, most airlines encourage people to keep their seat-belts on during cruise - this is good advice that I take to heart because turbulence is unpredictable; sudden loss of elevation are known to happen.
      - ghaff 9y ago
        It's also the case that a loosely-buckled aircraft lap belt will probably keep you from making an acquaintance with the ceiling if the plane decides to suddenly make you very aware of the concept of inertia. On the other hand, should a car ram into something or something into it, the same thing is going to be pretty near useless.
rictic 9y ago
It seems like it's not ill-defined, it's like all categorization schemes. It's suitable for some purposes and not others. The level system is important to the experience of the passenger, and to a number of design elements of the car, and, I would guess, to regulation. It's just not a total order on the capabilities or impressiveness of a self driving car project.

by strin 9y ago

jacquesm 9y ago

> the driver may safely go to sleep or leave the driver's seat That's going to be hard to do while you are wearing a seatbelt and I don't see seatbelt laws rescinded just because a vehicle is self driving until car accidents are exceedingly rare.

sangnoir 9y ago
That's because the current seats and belts are not designed for comfortable sleeping. This can change if the vehicle has L4 autonomy - the interior can be redesigned to from the ground-up to accommodate sleeping. Airplanes seats have set the precedence of having seat-belts whilst allowing for sleep.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Airplane seatbelts are only mandatory during take-off and landing as well as turbulence. It will be a very long time before any kind of driving is as safe as commercial air travel.
  - sangnoir 9y ago
    I wasn't talking about the laws, I was referring to the comfort baked into the design: I have slept while flying with my seat-belt on; it's not uncomfortable. While not legally mandated, most airlines encourage people to keep their seat-belts on during cruise - this is good advice that I take to heart because turbulence is unpredictable; sudden loss of elevation are known to happen.
    - ghaff 9y ago
      It's also the case that a loosely-buckled aircraft lap belt will probably keep you from making an acquaintance with the ceiling if the plane decides to suddenly make you very aware of the concept of inertia. On the other hand, should a car ram into something or something into it, the same thing is going to be pretty near useless.

rictic 9y ago

It seems like it's not ill-defined, it's like all categorization schemes. It's suitable for some purposes and not others. The level system is important to the experience of the passenger, and to a number of design elements of the car, and, I would guess, to regulation. It's just not a total order on the capabilities or impressiveness of a self driving car project.