Countdown to Mainstreaming of Self-Driving Vehicles
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Image: Volvo Parking-assist systems are already being offered as options for some vehicles. This technology is likely to be enhanced to allow drivers and passengers to be dropped off and picked up while the vehicles self-park and un-park. Curb frontage loading areas may need to be expanded, and parking areas can be redesigned to be more compact and perhaps located farther away from the buildings they serve.4 Self-driving vehicles are expected to track more precisely within lanes, which could allow lanes to be narrowed. More precise tracking also could lead to wear patterns that may require changes to pavement design. One of the first mainstreamed applications of self-driving vehicles might be dedicated lanes on highways, similar to diamond lanes for carpoolers. What sorts of signage and road markings, both physical and wireless, will be needed to direct and manage self-driven vehicles in such situations? What happens if one of the vehicles quits self-driving mode and forces the driver to handle the vehicle manually while still in the self-driving vehicle lane? What about construction zones, school crossings and special event traffic management? Most self-driving vehicles will use pre-installed maps and roadway markings that have been stored in memory, and most construction zone markings and special event traffic management are handled with improvised signage and policies. How can these traffic management protocols best be communicated to self-driving vehicles? Challenge to the Countdown: There’s lots of traffic engineering to do to accommodate and manage self-driving vehicles; who’s in charge, who’s leading, and is anyone following? Laws and law enforcement must adapt to the emergence of different levels of autonomous driving on public roads 
Increasing levels of autonomous driving, transitioning over time, will create a dynamically changing mix of vehicles under non-autonomous, semi-autonomous and fully-autonomous control (The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed a categorization system consisting of five levels, Levels 0 through 45 and there will be a mix with each at any time on our nation’s roads for the next several decades.). Will it be appropriate—or conversely, should it be required?—for there to be an indication of when a vehicle is under various levels of autonomous control so drivers and law enforcement personnel around it are aware of it? In mixed traffic with both self-driving and manually driven vehicles, should self-driving vehicles mimic driver behavior? Should they be allowed to exceed the posted speed limit if safe operation would be enhanced by keeping pace with other vehicles traveling above the limit? Could the concept of posted peed limits be modified to allow dynamic speed limits that adjust to conditions in real time?6 If it’s against the law to text and drive, can a driver who was texting while driving successfully plead not guilty if it can be demonstrated that the car was in self-driving mode? How would the law enforcement official have known the self-driving system was engaged without some sort of indication visible on the outside of the vehicle? Traffic rules are set by individual states. Self-driving vehicles will likely be programmed to adapt to the rules of the road as they cross state lines, but will law enforcement personnel be trained and equipped with appropriate policies and procedures to handle violations and/or accidents? Directory: ~alaink -> SmartDrivingCars -> Papers SmartDrivingCars -> Personal Rapid Transit in Cape May County SmartDrivingCars -> Existing Transit Service patco high Speed Line SmartDrivingCars -> Prt proposal \chapter{Ocean County} Papers -> Research needs statement SmartDrivingCars -> Releases Policy on Automated Vehicle Development SmartDrivingCars -> A scenario: The End of Auto Insurance SmartDrivingCars -> Deliberations from Expert Workshop on Shared Mobility and Automation from the Road Vehicle Automation Workshop Objective Papers -> Comment about ca dmv av regulatory Proposal Prof. Robert Peterson, Santa Clara University draft 1/4/15 Download 9.21 Mb. Share with your friends:
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