Across the span of the SAE International-defined Levels of Driving Automation,
human drivers occupy a diverse range of responsibilities and authority on the
vehicle movement and the monitoring of the outside environment. From both a
technological and a regulatory perspective, there is a gap that divides lower
levels of automation (L1 through L3) and higher levels of automation (L4 and
L5). For those vehicles that require the cooperation between a human driver and
the autonomous technology, it is important to ascertain the safety consequences
of such a design choice. It is also important to understand what the transition
between automated driving and manual driving entails for the human driver, as
well as for the surrounding traffic. This SAE EDGE™ Research Report investigates
unsettled issues concerning what is commonly referred to as “semi-automation,”
including an overview of the role of human drivers, the quantification of the
“transition-to-manual” problem, the role played by L3 toward full automation,
and regulatory and moral considerations surrounding the deployment of these
vehicles.
NOTE: SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are intended to identify and illuminate key
issues in emerging, but still unsettled, technologies of interest to the
mobility industry. The goal of SAE EDGE™ Research Reports is to stimulate
discussion and work in the hope of promoting and speeding resolution of
identified issues. SAE EDGE™ Research Reports are not intended to resolve the
issues they identify or close any topic to further scrutiny.