The levels of sustained vehicle automation, as recently updated by SAE in J3016 (status: 06/2018), have become common knowledge. They facilitate overall understanding of the issue. Sustained automation describes the shift in workload from purely human-driven vehicles to full automation. Duties of the driver are assigned to the machine as automation levels rise. Yet sustained driving automation does not cover “automated driving” as a whole.
Automated driving functions operating on a nonsustained basis cannot be classified by means of levels describing continuous automation. Emergency braking, e.g., is obviously an intensive, but discontinuous, automation of a single task. It cannot be classified under the regime of sustained automation. The resulting lack of visibility of these important functions cannot satisfy - especially in the light of effect they take on traffic safety.
Therefore, in order to reach a full picture of automated driving, this article proposes a comprehensive approach that can map out different characteristics as “Principles of Operation” at top level. On this basis informing and warning functions as well as functions intervening only temporarily in near-accident situations can be described. Moreover levels for temporarily intervening functions are proposed - meant to be the counterpart of the sustained levels already in place. This results in a detailed and independent classification for accident-prone situations and finally provides for the visibility these important functions deserve in the context of ongoing discussions on the larger “Automated Driving” issue.
