26 AFTERMARKET APRIL 2023 TECHNICAL/AFTERMARKET OF THE FUTURE www.aftermarketonline.net Self-driving continues to polarise UK public opinion Key questions surrounding exactly how self-driving vehicles should behave continue to divide UK public opinion. That’s according to early indications from research by Reed Mobility, supported by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund (RJRF). Figures published in February show that 17% of survey respondents “strongly agreed” with the suggestion that selfdriving buses should “drive at speeds that keep up with the traffic flow (within the speed limit), even if this increases risk to pedestrians”. On the other hand, 16% of participants “strongly disagreed”. Reed Mobility – run by Dr Nick Reed, formerly Academy Director at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory – was one of two winners of last year’s RJRF 150 Competition, splitting the £150,000 prize with Eloy. Nick Reed said: “The support from the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund has enabled critical exploration into how self-driving vehicles should behave to align with the expectations of the communities into which they are deployed. These vehicles will potentially be sharing road space with motor vehicles and vulnerable road users and could dramatically improve road safety. However, in this safety critical context, the nature of self-driving vehicle operation behaviour is too important to be left solely in the hands of technology developers.” With self-driving advertising issues, critical videos on Twitter, and Mercedes winning the race to SAE Level 3 in the US, these are testing times for Tesla. In January, the respected Barron’s website noted that: “Tesla’s brand is the most valuable among the world’s auto makers, but it could be stronger. Tesla investors, along with Wall Street, are worried that CEO Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter is hurting Tesla’s brand image.” That was before the Dawn Project’s advert during the Super Bowl savaging Tesla's Full Self-Driving and calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to ban it. Just before Christmas, legislators in California had already clamped down on the terminology permissible in self-driving advertising and marketing. The new law’s sponsor, Senator Lena Gonzalez, said: "[Senate Bill 1398] increases consumer safety by requiring dealers and manufacturers that sell new passenger vehicles equipped with a semiautonomous driving assistance... to give a clear description of the functions and limitations of those features." Then there was the Tesla which stopped abruptly in the Bay Bridge tunnel in San Francisco, reportedly with Full Self-Driving Beta active, which caused a multi-vehicle pileup. Journalist Ken Klippenstein detailed the incident in The Intercept and helpfully posted the surveillance footage to Twitter, garnering 40m views. More recently – and thanks to AV safety expert Philip Koopman on Linkedin for alerting us to this one – actor James Urbaniak tweeted a video of a Tesla he’d borrowed confusing a train with a succession of trucks. This also went viral and currently has over 10m views. “Just because an autonomous vehicle passes a test doesn't mean it actually understood the situation,” said Philip. “Does the vehicle know it has stopped for a grade crossing instead of a traffic light? Or does the driving software know what is going on and it is just a lame user interface? Hard to tell. But to the extent the user interface is there for the driver to ensure the vehicle is operating properly (a claim I have heard made) then this is problematic.” With EV no longer a USP, ADAS is the new battleground and, in January, Mercedes struck a significant blow by announcing that its Drive Pilot had become the first SAE Level 3 system in a standard production vehicle to be authorised for use on US public freeways. Many had expected Tesla to get there first. “Certification in Nevada marks the start of its international rollout and, with it, the dawning of a new era,” said Mercedes-Benz CTO Markus Schäfer. www.aftermarketonline.net Testing times for Tesla Neil Kennett looks at cutting-edge auto tech coming to a workshop near you soon AFTERMARKET OF THE FUTURE A commentator on the UK aftermarket since before Concorde was grounded, Neil is Editor of Carsofthefuture.co.uk, providing news and views about driverless vehicles, and Director of Communications at Selfdrivingpr.com, experts in automotive/autonomous media and public relations
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