Driverless cars 'could lead to complacency'
Discussion
Driverless cars 'could lead to complacency'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39274411
Certain types of driverless vehicles may not be safe, peers have warned.
Over-reliance on technology could mean drivers react slowly to taking back control of a semi-autonomous vehicle in an emergency, they said.
However, the Lords Science and Technology Committee noted that some technology could reduce accidents caused by human error.
The Department for Transport said driverless cars "have the potential to transform the way we trave
Vehicles can be split into different levels of automation, according to industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Level 0 is a vehicle with no automation, while level 5 is fully automated.
There is a "very dangerous" problem that lies with vehicles on the midway point of this scale, peers on the Lords Science and Technology Committee said.
Vehicles at level 3 still need a driver, but can shift critical operations to the car, and back again.
The risk that the vehicle may need to hand back control to an unprepared driver in an emergency may be "too great to tolerate", the Lords Science and Technology Committee said.
Professor Neville Stanton of the University of Southampton told the committee: "As vehicles become fully autonomous, even the most observant human driver's attention will begin to wane.
"Their mind will wander… This is particularly true if they are engaging in other activities such as reading, answering emails, engaged in conversations with passengers, watching movies or surfing the internet."
In general, research suggested drivers of automated vehicles were not as effective at dealing with emergencies as drivers of manual cars.
For example, they had been found to take six times longer to respond to emergency braking by other vehicles.
Who would have thought that would happen?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39274411
Certain types of driverless vehicles may not be safe, peers have warned.
Over-reliance on technology could mean drivers react slowly to taking back control of a semi-autonomous vehicle in an emergency, they said.
However, the Lords Science and Technology Committee noted that some technology could reduce accidents caused by human error.
The Department for Transport said driverless cars "have the potential to transform the way we trave
Vehicles can be split into different levels of automation, according to industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Level 0 is a vehicle with no automation, while level 5 is fully automated.
There is a "very dangerous" problem that lies with vehicles on the midway point of this scale, peers on the Lords Science and Technology Committee said.
Vehicles at level 3 still need a driver, but can shift critical operations to the car, and back again.
The risk that the vehicle may need to hand back control to an unprepared driver in an emergency may be "too great to tolerate", the Lords Science and Technology Committee said.
Professor Neville Stanton of the University of Southampton told the committee: "As vehicles become fully autonomous, even the most observant human driver's attention will begin to wane.
"Their mind will wander… This is particularly true if they are engaging in other activities such as reading, answering emails, engaged in conversations with passengers, watching movies or surfing the internet."
In general, research suggested drivers of automated vehicles were not as effective at dealing with emergencies as drivers of manual cars.
For example, they had been found to take six times longer to respond to emergency braking by other vehicles.
Who would have thought that would happen?
Uber suspends self-driving cars after Arizona crash
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39397211
Uber has pulled its self-driving cars from the roads after an accident which left one of the vehicles on its side.
Pictures posted online showed the car on its right side on an Arizona street, next to another badly damaged vehicle.
The car - a Volvo SUV - was in self-driving mode at the time of the crash, on Friday, Uber said. No one was hurt.
A spokeswoman for the police in Tempe, Arizona said the accident occurred when another vehicle "failed to yield" to the Uber car at a left turn.
"There was a person behind the wheel. It is uncertain at this time if they were controlling the vehicle at the time of the collision," spokeswoman Josie Montenegro said.
Uber's self-driving cars always have a human in the driving seat who can take over the controls.
The company pulled its self-driving vehicles off the road in Arizona at first, followed by test sites in Pennsylvania and California - all three states where it operated the vehicles.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39397211
Uber has pulled its self-driving cars from the roads after an accident which left one of the vehicles on its side.
Pictures posted online showed the car on its right side on an Arizona street, next to another badly damaged vehicle.
The car - a Volvo SUV - was in self-driving mode at the time of the crash, on Friday, Uber said. No one was hurt.
A spokeswoman for the police in Tempe, Arizona said the accident occurred when another vehicle "failed to yield" to the Uber car at a left turn.
"There was a person behind the wheel. It is uncertain at this time if they were controlling the vehicle at the time of the collision," spokeswoman Josie Montenegro said.
Uber's self-driving cars always have a human in the driving seat who can take over the controls.
The company pulled its self-driving vehicles off the road in Arizona at first, followed by test sites in Pennsylvania and California - all three states where it operated the vehicles.
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