ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2023 - 4

Editorial
Automated driving's continuing
mission: One step forward....
The AV sector was stunned by the
late-October headline that the
California Department of Motor Vehicles
suspended robotaxi developer Cruise's
permits for deployment and testing of
driverless vehicles. Except some weren't
stunned at all, as a drumbeat of criticism
about Cruise vehicles' sometimes
erratic interactions with other road
users intensified in the months leading
up to the operational suspension.
Cruise's difficulties in San Francisco
came to a head in an accident in which
a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle,
then struck again by a driverless Cruise
robotaxi. Some prominent voices
connected with AV development said
it was time to take action.
Even proponents of the robotaxi
use case conceded that all is not well in
AV-development land if Cruise robotaxis'
performance in San Francisco represents
the best one of the world's most prominent
and well-funded " full-stack " AV
developers currently can deliver.
Is high-level automation the automotive
industry's Moby Dick, spurring
a self-destructive pursuit that's burned
billions of dollars and produced scant
payback in an ultimately misguided
quest? It depends on your perspective.
Consider that Ford and Volkswagen
pulled the plug on their jointly-funded
AV developer Argo AI in October 2022
after a handful of low-impact pilot
programs and years of optimistic talk.
Yes, some of the recent advances in
ADAS can be attributed to the big
players' investments in high-level automation.
Problem is, ADAS still isn't doing
the job, either.
Mercedes-Benz's new Drive Pilot
ADAS was launched in two U.S. states
in September 2023 and the company
calls it an SAE Level 3 system, assuming
full authority over both lateral and
longitudinal vehicle control - with an
important detail: the driver does not
have to keep eyes on the road.
As there always will be with Level 3,
there are caveats, chiefly addressing the
range of conditions that must be met for
Drive Pilot to be engaged. The system
operates only up to 40 mph (64 km/h)
and can be used only in " high-density "
traffic. And more critically, those who've
read the fine print believe the company
still is evasive about who's responsible
in the problematic " handoff " period in
which all Level 3 systems can " request "
the driver to take control.
Instead of the quest to get drivers
out of the equation, let's get sensors and
artificial intelligence and high-powered
processors working on functionalities
that might actually make a difference.
Forget " last-mile " - how about systems
that help seniors or the physically challenged
negotiate that last 40 feet into a
narrow garage or a tight parking space?
I want to press a button when
approaching a tightly packed, unfamiliar
parking structure and have automation
drive my vehicle into an open parking
spot. These capabilities have been
demonstrated and are child's pllay for
today's technology. We need to take
a break from Moby Dick and pursue
mobility problems we can fix.
Bill Visnic, Editorial Director
This is the final print issue of ADAS &
Autonomous Vehicle Engineering. But
you will find our SAE Media Group's
continuing coverage of all things
ADAS and AV in the pages of SAE's
flagship ground-vehicle publications,
Automotive Engineering and Truck &
Off-Highway Engineering, as well as at
mobilityengineeringtech.com/.
EDITORIAL
Bill Visnic
Editorial Director
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4 November 2023
ADAS & AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE ENGINEERING
https://www.mobilityengineeringtech.com/
ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Engineering - November 2023

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