Mercedes-Benz Level 3 Drive Pilot launched amidst doubts

Uncertainty can cause problems for drivers.

“We are concerned that drivers will not read the fine print and will end up in a situation where they genuinely believe it is safe to take their eyes off the road and pick up their cell phones or other devices,” Funkhauser said. there is,” he said.

As lawmakers grow more concerned about drivers’ distractions, the question of what human drivers can and should do with their time is emerging. The answer may vary by state.

Michigan enacted a law this month that makes it illegal for motorists to physically make and receive phone calls, text messages, and access, read, and post on social networking sites while driving. New York law, which is more stringent, prohibits drivers from taking their hands off the wheel. However, voice commands and hands-free mode are possible.

“Congressmen are fighting hard to keep their attention and drive motivated,” said Jennifer Dukalski, an attorney specializing in vehicle safety and emerging technologies at Butzel Law Firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There are,” he said. They will perceive this as less focused driving,” she said.

Koopman, who helped create the SAE level standards codified in California’s Autonomous Driving Act, said level 3 doesn’t allow drivers to pay attention up to that point, even if they’re asked to take over driving. Said I can’t wait.

“If there’s a fire truck in the middle of the road, or the traffic light is red, you, as a human being, have no obligation to notice it,” he says.

But NHTSA says Level 3 is a little different. Humans can be “relieved from driving duties in limited circumstances,” said a spokesperson for the agency. A human driver “must always be ready to respond to cues to intervene.”

In theory, a human driver would have to wait a certain amount of time after being prompted to regain control before actually regaining control. But there is no standard for what that period should be like.

Mercedes-Benz did not disclose how the driver will be notified to regain control or how long it will have to maintain control.

It took an average of 6.1 seconds for the driver to refocus his vision back to the road as requested by the system. According to a study published in March By Reimer and his MIT colleagues.

These results were obtained when investigating Level 2 driver assistance systems where the human driver is always responsible. Leimer is concerned that Level 3 systems will take even longer for drivers to regain situational awareness. That’s why, in theory, he sees any system that allows drivers to divert their attention from traffic as not a starter.

“Having to be ready at every point to take control means you can’t pay attention to the road at all,” he said.

Problems surrounding the introduction of Level 3 are compounded if the driver does not respond to the hijacking prompts.

Mercedes-Benz said the system will stop the vehicle and activate the hazard warning lights if the driver fails to regain control “after increasingly urgent prompts and the expiration of the control time”.

The company declined to answer questions about how these prompts would work, whether such stops would occur within the vehicle’s driving lane, or whether the vehicle could be moved to the curb. In its interpretation of the 2016 Federal Safety Standards for Self-Driving Systems, NHTSA said a vehicle that stops in its lane of travel could be a safety hazard.