What is the first thought which comes to your mind when you hear the word autonomous vehicle? Well for most of us, we imagine a car with the ability to drive completely by itself. Although this is not wrong it’s not accurate. Autonomous could be to a different extent. Think of it with an analogy of a smartphone. Compare your current 2023 smartphone with the one back in 2015. Both of them do qualify as smartphones but their level has risen significantly. Just like that, we can categorize autonomous vehicles into 6 different levels. We shall look carefully at the extent to which each level provides automation.
What are autonomous vehicles?
Let’s first understand the basic. How do we define an autonomous vehicle? Well when it comes to autonomous, it specifically refers to the features which assist the driver with driving the car. This means any other features like keyless ignition or automatic seat height adjusting etc don’t contribute to the Autonomous level.
Level 0
Most of the vehicles come under this category. This level simply refers to the most basic car. The driver is expected to have full control over the vehicle. It could have some features like an emergency braking system, but technically they don’t assist to drive the car and hence they are not an autonomous feature.
Level 1
This level is the entry into the world of automation. The very basic feature required to be qualified as level 1 is the ability to control and monitor vehicle speed. This feature is recognized by the name of cruise control. This helps the driver to maintain a certain speed on the road. There’s no need to continue pressing the pedal. If you accelerate to overtake a car ahead of you, on removing your foot it will automatically come back to the set speed. Although if you apply a break it will automatically cancel the cruise control. This feature is getting very common in cars. Apart from the very basic entry-level cars almost most of them have cruise control.
Level 2
Level 2 is also referred to as partial driving automation. To be qualified for level 2 your vehicle should be able to not only monitor and control your seep but also should have the ability to control the steering wheel. It is often referred to as an advanced driver assistance system or ADAS for short. Even though the vehicle can control the steering, a human is required at all times to take the control if needed. It can help you with taking off your hand for sometimes oh highway.
But remember you mentally need to be present all the time. It is not smart enough to analyze the sudden change in road conditions and take decisions accordingly. You cannot mentally be absent and need to constantly monitor the road. It simply helps you with taking off your hands and feet for some time. Tesla autopilot can be considered a Level 2 autonomous vehicle.
Level 3
Conditional driving automation or level 3 automation is a major upgrade from the previous one. In the previous level, the system isn’t smart enough to detect and sense its surrounding environment. This is resolved here. Here the system is capable of taking few decisions by itself. This includes the ability to accelerate to overtake a slow-moving vehicle etc. This feature cannot be used in all situations but you can still use it on a highway or slow-moving traffic etc. This can help you keep your eyes off the road for a while. But if the system feels it cannot make a decision based on the road condition it will immediately prompt the driver to override the control.
Level 4
To upgrade from level 3 to 4 your vehicle should have the ability to handle even when something goes wrong or there is a system failure. There is practically no need for human intervention but there is still an option to take charge and operate the vehicle manually. It can secure your car in case of emergency. Currently, there is geofencing for this class of vehicle. This means governments across the world permit you to operate this class of vehicle completely in autonomous mode in certain areas. In other regions, it is still mandatory to drive your car with human intervention.
Level 5
This is the Apex of an autonomous vehicle. There is zero human interaction. The steering wheel, brake pedals, etc may be absent. The vehicle can handle itself in any circumstance. It is believed this class of cars could have smart cabins where you can operate your car with voice commands.
Bottom line
Currently, almost the majority of the cars in the world fall under the level 0 and 1 category. Tesla and Ford are two of the leading companies which are moving ahead with their technology to deliver higher levels of autonomous vehicles. This progress is to revolutionize life, especially for people with disability. They no longer would be dependent on others to drive around.