Safety rating and testing for self driving cars

While virtually everyone agrees self driving will save lives due to elimination of drunk driving, road rage, and human added factors that can injure or kill others. There is no government at this time working on a test that self driving cars need to pass to legally drive on the road. Note I’m focusing on level 5 full automation.

Feel free to share this around, but this is what I came up with.

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As mentioned, we are going to focus purely on conditions where the user can’t control the car or isn’t expected to control the car. This being even if there is a wheel in place or not. We are talking about level 5.

Because we are talking about a car that can fully drive itself. If there is no method for the user to take over the car in an emergency situation. Then in my opinion, the car by law should have an emergency stop button. This button should be:

• Easily identifiable and accessible.
• Protected to prevent accidental activation.
• Programmed to initiate a controlled stop and transmit a distress signal.

This button must be standardized so if you jump in any self driving car, you know exactly where to look, and what to do in the case of an emergency.

Beyond the emergency stop mechanism, clear categorization of Level 5 capabilities is crucial for consumer understanding and informed decision-making. These categories should be prominently displayed in marketing materials, owner’s manuals, and any other consumer-facing information. The following categories are proposed:

• City Driving: This category addresses the complex and unpredictable nature of urban driving. Testing should encompass navigating dense traffic, pedestrian and cyclist interactions, complex intersections, variable speed limits, and adherence to city-specific traffic laws. Evaluation should also include the vehicle’s ability to handle challenging scenarios like double-parked vehicles, construction zones, and emergency vehicle responses.
• Highway Driving: Highway driving presents its own set of challenges, including high speeds, merging and lane changes in heavy traffic, and reacting to sudden slowdowns or stopped vehicles. Testing should focus on maintaining safe following distances, appropriate lane changes, and responding to unexpected events such as debris on the roadway or sudden lane closures. Performance in adverse weather conditions like rain, fog, and snow should also be rigorously evaluated.
• Off-Road Driving: While seemingly less complex due to the absence of dense traffic, off-road driving necessitates the ability to navigate unpredictable terrain, including uneven surfaces, obstacles like rocks and trees, and challenging weather conditions like mud and snow. This is relevant not only for specialized applications like farming, construction, and search and rescue, but also for navigating unpaved roads, private driveways, and parking lots in inclement weather. Testing should include scenarios like traversing steep inclines and declines, navigating around obstacles, and maintaining stability on loose surfaces.

A robust and multi-layered testing process is essential to validate the safety and reliability of Level 5 autonomous vehicles. This process should encompass the following:

• Cybersecurity Testing: This is paramount to safeguarding the vehicle’s systems from malicious attacks that could compromise safety. Testing should involve penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities in both the software and hardware components of the self-driving system. Specific standards should mandate the isolation of the autonomous driving system from other vehicle systems like entertainment and navigation to minimize the potential attack surface. Regular security updates and vulnerability patching protocols should also be established.
• Virtual Simulation Testing: Virtual simulations provide a safe and controlled environment to expose the autonomous driving system to a vast range of scenarios. These simulations can replicate real-world environments with high fidelity, incorporating various weather conditions, traffic patterns, and unexpected events like tire blowouts, sensor failures, and sudden obstructions in the roadway. Automated testing programs should be utilized to execute a massive number of test cases, covering a wide range of scenarios and edge cases, accelerating the testing process and improving test coverage. Advanced simulation platforms should be developed, building on existing tools and leveraging technologies like game engines, to create highly realistic and customizable testing environments.
• Physical Road Testing: Following successful completion of cybersecurity and virtual simulation testing, physical road testing in controlled environments and eventually on public roads is necessary to validate real-world performance. This testing should encompass many of the scenarios covered in virtual simulations, but under real-world conditions. Data collected from physical road tests should be used to further refine the autonomous driving system and ensure its safe and reliable operation in a wide range of real-world situations.

Again, please feel free to share this around.