SELF-DRIVE OR DRIVER-ASSISTED, THE DILEMMA
AHelp or in some cases, replace the driver for certain functions, like parking? The answer with BMW’s Personal CoPilot systems
Jules Verne had imagined it in his novel, Paris in the Twentieth Century. A world of glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, powerful and super-fast computers, a global communications network able to transmit sounds and pictures in real time from one end of the planet to the other. And cars that self-drove using gas-fuelled engines instead of heat engines. The majority of those predictions have come true. The one about cars, only in part. While there are no gas-fuelled cars, self-drive vehicles, or at least, driver-assisted ones, do exist. Two terms that are often confused or create confusion. Let’s try to clarify them. Remembering that the objective is still, in any case, the safety of all road-users, those moving on wheels and those on foot, and that, undoubtedly, a self-drive vehicle can pay attention to things that are beyond a human’s physically capacity and, being a machine, never gets tired or becomes distracted.
The driver-assisted system helps or, in some cases, replaces the driver in certain functions, like, for example, parking and as BMW’s Personal Co-Pilot systems do. Then we go to the next level, that is, partial automation, where cars equipped with steering r assistance for lane control, can brake or accelerate and control the steering wheel.
The next step is conditioned automation where a vehicle can drive itself along selected or pre-arranged routes or those technically defined as “protected” like, for example, some motorways, even if the driver can immediately resume control whenever he so desires. For several years now, BMW’s test vehicles have been trying out conditioned self-drive systems on some public roads in order to make them a reality for customers by 2021.
High-automation, on the other hand, is when the vehicle is able to autonomously deal with a reasonably busy urban route, as Tesla is also currently experimenting, and in situations considered as complicated or problematic, such as roadworks blocking the road or an obstacle that suddenly appears in front of the car.
The last level, the one which every manufacturer is striving for and which will be the next objective is complete and total automation. While the most ambitious, it is also the most stimulating from every angle in terms of research and engineering ability. It implicates that the vehicle will take full control of all the driving and decisional functions involved in the situation. This could mean that licences and driving documents will become obsolete and all those inside the vehicle will simply be passengers who can spend their travel time doing whatever they want.
The argument at this point also implies, however, a series of ethical and moral questions, like, for example, the vehicle’s behaviour, or rather, the behaviour of the software that is managing the situation ahead and making the choices. And so, which guidelines are they to be given in a situation in which there is a high probability, if not a certainty, of there being victims? Should the physical wellbeing of those on-board take priority over those on the outside, such as one or more pedestrians? And, what if the latter were being imprudent or irresponsible? The debate is open and the road is still very long. (Fabio Schiavo)
