Market and tech analysts believe that the driverless cars will become a common occurrence on our roads by 2020.
The Future Of Self-Driving Tech
According to Market Watch, Mercedes-Benz luxury brand has recently showed a TV commercial featuring a future autonomous concept car. Ready or not, the future has arrived and the automaker is already working on a concept car that can drive itself. But public safety advocacy groups are warning about the way car companies describe their driverless technologies.
Auto makers developing self-driving and automated-driving features need to make consumers aware of the technologies' limitations and avoid giving a false sense of security. This is especially true after the Tesla car's crash while being on Auto Pilot.
Consumers have to get educated on the differences between a fully autonomous driving car and assisted driving technologies. Mercedes' Drive Pilot or Tesla's Auto Pilot can initiate a lane change by activating the turn signal. Mercedes' Active Brake Assist, can warn the driver of an imminent collision, as well as braking automatically if the driver fails to act.
Mike Nelson, a lawyer at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP focused on liabilities stemming from automated driving said that car maker companies are in a race to get their autonomous driving technology out on the public roads and demonstrate the superior engineering qualities of their own self-driving solutions said. He added that the auto manufacturers are all exposed to consumer-protection laws for falsely advertising capabilities and on duties to warn consumers. However, in these newly emerging industry there is a lot of potential for misunderstanding and misuses.
Regulators and car makers say that technologies such as adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking and assisted steering offer the potential to cut traffic fatalities due to their safety benefits. But most of the customers still remain skeptical when being assured these technologies are safe and flawless.
Meanwhile, General Motors Co. is developing an automated-driving system for Cadillacs, called "Super Cruise." Volvo Car Corp. offers on some of its new cars the "Pilot Assist" that is part of a group of features dubbed "Intellisafe." Google parent Alphabet Inc. is already making tests with autonomous cars that don't require any human interaction. And, according to Business Insider, Tesla is getting closer to its ultimate goal of producing its first AI self-driving enabled, mass-market electric car, the Model 3.
