Navigating driverless cars

• Author: Emma Poole
• Position: Lawyer and Researcher, Melbourne, Australia
• Pages: 11-14

p. 11WIPO | MAGAZINE

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by Emma Poole,

Lawyer and Rese archer,

Melbourne, Australia

In September 2014, The Economist debated whether “completely self-driving cars”

are “feasible in the fores eeable future”. The 32 percent of readers who voted “no”

have obviously missed the news that th is staple of science ction has already turne d

into science fact.

Whether we call them drive rless, self-driving or au tonomous, these cars have nav-

igated downtown Parma and driven from Ita ly to China almost unaided (a huma n

being had to drive through Moscow an d pay the tolls). A Mercedes-Benz S-Class

travelled between Mannh eim and Pforzheim without driver in put in August 2013 and,

most famously, the Google Self-Drivi ng Car Project has now completed over 700,000

test kilometres. The prototype ca rs cannot always navigate potholes, se e a trafc

light with the sun behind it or d rive in the rain, but driverle ss vehicles are more than

feasible, you can buy them.

WHAT IS A SELF-DRIVI NG CAR?

A car is self-driving if it c an operate without the “active control an d continuous mon-

itoring” of a human being. According to the US D epartment of Transportation, this

means that the car’s operation does not requ ire driver input to control the steeri ng,

acceleration or brakin g. However, automation is really a question of degree. The

National Highway Trafc Safety Administration in the U S has identied ve “levels” of

automation (see box).

ALREADY HERE?

Fully automated vehicles are now commonplace in certain controlled environments.

You may have already travelled on a segregated railway or guideway (also k nown as

light rail) system in Vancouver, London, Singapore or bet ween terminals at airpor ts

around the world. The Park Shut tle vehicles in the Netherlands use dedi cated bus lanes

Navigating

DRIVERLESS CARS

The five levels of

automation :

1. No-Automation – the driver i s

in complete control;

2. Function-Spe cic Automation

– a function assi sts the driver

(electronic stabi lity control or

brake-a ssist technology);

3. Combined Funct ion Automation

– two funct ions are designed to

work together in cert ain scenarios

– such as “adaptive cru ise control …

with lane c entering”;

4. Limited Self-Dr iving Automation

– enabling the d river to give

up control of the car in cer tain

scenarios, w ith sensors to trigger

the need to retur n control to

the driver ;

5. Full Self-Dri ving Automation

– the car perform s all drivin g

functions and monitors road

conditions w ithout any input;

a person wil l determine the

destination and t hen give up all

control of the car.

Google’s self-d riving ca r project has domin ated

coverage of the emer ging driver less car sector.

Photo: Google