License tests for autonomous cars

Anxiety, stress, inadequacy, indignity, triumph. We could be about to see if computerized driving machines can feel any of those emotions.

Yes, there is a push for a standard driving license test for autonomous cars in Europe.

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has used a new report to urge for an upgrade of the European Union’s safety homologation standards for new cars to include a driver’s license test for autonomous vehicles.

While automated and fully autonomous cars are increasingly headline news, the ETSC has argued that EU legislation is a long way from where it needs to be to allow them to be widely used.

“Automated vehicles are already starting to appear on Europe’s roads, but regulators are still stuck in the slow lane,” the ETSC’s Executive Director, Antonio Avenoso, said.

“It is crucial that we get a much greater understanding of what the real-world safety benefits would be and what new risks would be introduced before these vehicles are put on sale,” he concluded.

The report, “Prioritising the Safety Potential of Automated Driving in Europe”, admits the theoretical benefits of autonomous cars are huge.

“Autonomous vehicles won’t drink and drive or get distracted by telephone calls, Facebook posts, or children in the back. They will be programmed to drive at appropriate and legal speeds, and will pay attention to their environment in 360 degrees at millions of times every second.

“These technologies will clearly mitigate some risks; but they may also create new ones. And Europe is very far from answering the many research and regulatory questions that partly-automated and fully autonomous vehicles present.

“We face a medium to long-term scenario where autonomous vehicles will interact with large numbers of non-automated vehicles. What will the impact be on safety?

“Other road users, such as cyclists and pedestrians, will not become automated – how will they manage in a world where they can no longer establish eye contact with drivers before crossing the road?”

Avenoso urged the EU to put in place a standardized autonomous-car “driver’s licence” to ensure the cars could comply with the road rules in all 28 member countries.

The ETSC report also urges the EU to mandate collision-avoidance technology, such as autonomous emergency braking, for all new cars, and to upgrade existing license standards to ensure drivers know how to take over from autonomous technology in emergency situations.

“The EU is far from answering the many research and regulatory questions that must be considered before automated and autonomous vehicles can be put on sale,” the report argues.

“The priority must be to ensure that the promised safety benefits are delivered in real-world driving.

“Many questions remain over how autonomous vehicles will interact with other human-driven vehicles as well as vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists,” the report stated.

The Council’s Avenoso also called for the EU to come up with a framework that could cover all imaginable future autonomous technologies so that it wasn’t caught playing catch-up again.

He also called for upgrades to EU road-safety infrastructure, including road markings and signage, to help autonomous vehicles and intelligent, cruise control-linked speed controls to adhere to the road rules in every country.

“The EU and its carmakers must also apply full openness and transparency in disclosing collision data for automated vehicles in order that the information can be used to help future collisions,” he added.

While dozens of cars are capable of running with at least partial autonomous control today, the EU is planning to introduce its framework as late as 2030.

The European Commission only launched its Gear 2030 expert group this year, with the express aim of addressing future car industry technological developments, including autonomous driving. The ETSC is one of the group’s members.