Just like any intelligent robots, self-driving cars have had more than their fair share of outlandish claims. I've been known to poke fun at some of them (See Humanoids and Robotaxis).
But today I'd like to describe a self-driving feature that seems like a genuine advance, and which offers drivers something of value today.
A traffic chauffeur
Consider this post-Covid scenario: driving home after a long day, you find yourself crawling bumper-to-bumper on the Southeast Expressway in Boston or on the Santa Monica Boulevard in L.A.
Does this scenario stress you out? Do you get as frustrated as I do just reading about it? Then you might be in the market for a computerized traffic chauffeur.
If only your car could drive all by itself in stop-and-go traffic, it might free you up to do other things. The good news: such a car seems to be close---very close.
Honda claims to have a working version, and Mercedes-Benz this week got approval from the German government to make an automated traffic chauffeur available on about 8,000 miles of highway. Their new 2022 S-Class sedans plan to include it.
SAE Levels 0--2
SAE, a body of automotive engineers, has a six-level standard to sort smart features, starting from level zero (human driving only) to level five (full self-driving).
Today you can purchase cars with Level 0--2 driver assistance features, like lane-assist that steers to keep you in your lane, or adaptive cruise control that keeps a certain distance from the car in front of you.
Tesla's so-called Autopilot and related features fall into this category.
These driver assistance features don't make your car autonomous. You have to keep paying attention to the road, and you remain responsible for overriding them whenever needed.
You can't do other things; putting on makeup is not a safe activity for a driver with any of these features.
But Levels 3 and higher are different.