The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has developed a new safety rating system for vehicles capable of partially automated driving.
Going forward, the IIHS will give semi-automated driving systems, such as General Motors’ Super Cruise technology, a rating of Good, Acceptable, Marginal or Poor. The IIHS says that for a system to earn the best-possible rating of Good, “systems will need to ensure that the driver’s eyes are directed at the road and their hands are either on the wheel or ready to grab it at all times.” The safety watchdog will also require escalating alerts and appropriate emergency procedures when the driver does not meet those conditions.
“Partial automation systems may make long drives seem like less of a burden, but there is no evidence that they make driving safer,” IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement. “In fact, the opposite may be the case if systems lack adequate safeguards.”
This rating system is designed to encourage automakers to implement safeguards that can help reduce intentional and unintentional misuse of these system. They do not address other functional aspects of the systems that could also potentially contribute to crashes, however, such as how well their cameras or radar sensors identify obstacles. Put simply, this rating system addresses how these technologies are designed and implemented, rather than how they perform.
“Nobody knows when we’ll have true self-driving cars, if ever. As automakers add partial automation to more and more vehicles, it’s imperative that they include effective safeguards that help drivers keep their heads in the game,” Harkey added.
General Motors’ Super Cruise technology is an example of a system that works to ensure the driver is paying attention to the road ahead. Vehicles equipped with Super Cruise feature monitoring cameras that track the driver’s eye movements. If the system determines the driver is not paying full attention, it will relay visual warnings via the Super Cruise steering wheel and audible warnings before disengaging and requiring the driver to take full control of the vehicle.
IIHS expects to issue the first set of semi-automated driving system ratings in 2022. The agency says precise timing on these ratings is uncertain “because ongoing supply chain woes in the auto industry have made it more difficult to obtain vehicles for testing.”
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Comments
So Tesla should fail this right? But no one will care, because it’s Tesla..
What do these features do to Auto Insurance prices?
Holy Communism Batman!
I’m all for rating semi-automated systems. Some are truly atrocious. What I do NOT like is the push to install cameras in vehicles to watch you. How long until that gets abused and companies/law enforcement are patched into every vehicle to ensure compliance? I’m shocked that more people do not consider this to be invasive.
Will the driver monitoring system be active at all times or only when the semi-automated driving system is engaged?
Re Driver Monitoring: Well, even tho’ self-driving is super new, there has already been accidents & loss of life. Nobody is forcing me to option self-driving or, activating it, if I want that ability, I think it’s only reasonable that driver focus be monitored inside the car and, & automatically deactivated when not. Safety of driver, occupants and other vehicles, pedestrians are all @ stake.