Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by hubie on Monday January 30 2023, @11:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the home-James dept.

That's conditional hands-free driving and only in Nevada for now:

At CES earlier this January, Mercedes announced that it would become the first car company to achieve certification from the SAE for a Level 3 driver assist system. That became official on Thursday when the automaker confirmed its Drive Pilot ADAS (automated driver assist system) now complies with the requirements of Nevada Chapter 482A, which governs the use of autonomous vehicle technology on the state's roads. That makes Drive Pilot the only legal Level 3 system in the US for the moment.

[...] Level 3 capabilities, as defined by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), would enable the vehicle to handle "all aspects of the driving" when engaged but still need the driver attentive enough to promptly take control if necessary. That's a big step up from the Level 2 systems we see today such as Tesla's "Full Self-Driving," Ford's Blue Cruise, and GM's Super Cruise. All of those are essentially extra-capable highway cruise controls where the driver must maintain their attention on driving, typically keeping their hands on or at least near the wheel, and be responsible for what the ADAS is doing while it's doing it. That's a far cry from the Knight Rider-esque ADAS outlook Tesla is selling and what Level 2 autonomy is actually capable of.

[...] Drive Pilot is only available on the 2024 S-Class and EQS Sedan for now. Those are already in production and the first cars should reach the Vegas strip in the second half of this year.


Original Submission

This discussion was created by hubie (1068) for logged-in users only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 30 2023, @12:08PM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 30 2023, @12:08PM (#1289272) Journal

    'Nuff said.

    • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Monday January 30 2023, @11:58PM

      by richtopia (3160) on Monday January 30 2023, @11:58PM (#1289397) Homepage Journal

      I did a lot of travel/camping in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Nevada in particular is the land of long, straight, empty roads. I think I'd gamble on self driving being safe in that environment.

  • (Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2023, @02:40PM (10 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2023, @02:40PM (#1289278)

    > but still need the driver attentive enough to promptly take control if necessary.

    Since this doesn't work, I'm still in favor of never allowing Level 3 cars. Instead, jump over Level 3 and go directly to Level 4. At 4, the car will either accept or decline the chosen route, no "staying attentive" needed when the car is driving itself.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by ikanreed on Monday January 30 2023, @03:13PM (3 children)

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 30 2023, @03:13PM (#1289284) Journal

      Don't worry, we've seen plenty of evidence with Tesla's level 2 that rules like that don't actually influence human behavior in the slightest.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2023, @03:18PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2023, @03:18PM (#1289286)

        > Don't worry,

        Did you forget the "sarc" tag?

        As a pedestrian and bicyclist (and sometimes motorcyclist), I'm worried.
        I won't have Level 3 on any of my cars, at least not any time soon.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Monday January 30 2023, @04:15PM (1 child)

          by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 30 2023, @04:15PM (#1289300) Journal

          Might I suggest believing in an afterlife or reincarnation or something, because I checked and the deck doesn't even have a "don't run over bicyclists" card in it.

          • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday January 30 2023, @06:21PM

            by Freeman (732) on Monday January 30 2023, @06:21PM (#1289327) Journal

            Don't worry, they probably included a "make sure you hit them hard" option, so it makes them suing you a lot harder. You know, since they're dead.

            --
            Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 2) by aafcac on Monday January 30 2023, @04:28PM (3 children)

      by aafcac (17646) on Monday January 30 2023, @04:28PM (#1289303)

      I think limiting the level 3 use to short periods of time would be the best way to get from level 2 to level 4 as there is no substitute for real road conditions if the car is going to be expected to operate in them.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2023, @07:42PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2023, @07:42PM (#1289356)

        > there is no substitute for real road conditions if the car is going to be expected to operate in them.

        Not sure how to take this comment. Do you believe that Tesla's approach of using their "Autopilot" customers as beta testers is acceptable? And that this behavior will also be acceptable for other car companies??

        There are other approaches being used for training data, for example, just record everything without making any attempt to control the car. Several of the manufacturers have been doing this for years.

        Then there is a recent announcement by rfPro, one of the big suppliers of software for driving simulation--they can now synthesize video/radar/lidar output (from a simulator) that is good enough to feed into the sensory inputs of a self-driving system. This allows AI simulated-testing with something approaching the full complexity of the real world.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by aafcac on Monday January 30 2023, @08:14PM (1 child)

          by aafcac (17646) on Monday January 30 2023, @08:14PM (#1289363)

          No, my point is that allowing it to drive on it's own for short periods where a driver could realistically monitor and take control is likely going to need to be s part of the solution. Tesla allowing people to set the feature on for long periods ensure that people won't be ready to take over if things go wrong. But, some periods of time with the car doing everything is likely necessary.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 31 2023, @10:27AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 31 2023, @10:27AM (#1289448)

            I can tell you right now what's gonna happen...

            You are driving and you gotta go pee.

            You turn the auto drive on and get your jug.

            You make the requisite moves and begin filling your jug. The car velocity remains unchanged at 70 mph

            Both your hands are in use...one is holding the jug, the other is holding the dispenser so as to avoid leakage onto the upholstery, knowing a leak will forever ruin that coveted new car smell.

            Then a bicyclist appears out of nowhere.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by crafoo on Monday January 30 2023, @06:15PM

      by crafoo (6639) on Monday January 30 2023, @06:15PM (#1289324)

      I would much rather have level 3 requirements for urban driving. Every barred out mid-40s roastie is already on autopilot anyway. Some of these ladies are up to 3 bars a day and don't even know how to avoid the blackouts.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 31 2023, @02:56PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 31 2023, @02:56PM (#1289471)

      Nice tech discussion with Mercedes about how this system was developed and tested. Mentions various standards and other regulatory hurdles that had to be met,
            https://www.autonomousvehicleinternational.com/features/feature-mercedes-benz-shares-its-approach-to-proving-ground-testing-for-automated-vehicles.html [autonomousvehicleinternational.com]

(1)