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NO HANDS ON THE WHEEL by Queek Jiayu Autonomous vehicles, or AVs, are no longer the answer to a ques on. They are the star ng premise. Where are we at in terms of its development and use? What are some of the possible challenges and their possible solu ons? The Singapore Engineer finds out. Digitalisation – Whether we like it or not, this trend is here to stay. Its effects are increasingly reaching into every corner of our lives, and every so often, we hear, or see related buzzwords that float across our device-of-choice for consuming the news: “Internet of Things (IoT)”, “smart cities”, “Industry 4.0”, “autonomous vehicles”, “artificial intelligence”, and so on. At the recently-concluded Mobile World Congress Americas, more than 21,000 visitors from 110 countries and territories descended upon San Francisco to discuss the latest developments in this Connec vity will facilitate digitalisa on and is a key enabler for the vehicles of the future. field, as well as showcase their wares. Photo: Gustavo Fernandez for GSM Associa on. The three-day conference, held from 12 to 14 September 2017, was the inaugural North American leg of the world’s largest Autonomous vehicles: A primer exhibi on and conference for the mobile industry. So what are AVs and what can they do? Not surprisingly, the talk of the town revolved around Simply put, an AV is a vehicle that is capable of gatherthe same few buzzwords listed above, and how uping data about its environment and making naviga onal coming fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks will be decisions without any human input. able to catalyse their development. This also extended into discussions on the vehicles of the future, both The Society of Automo ve Engineers (SAE), in 2014, connected and autonomous, as a computing platform created a classifica on system which defined the levels of the next decade. of autonomy for vehicles:
CONVENTIONAL DRIVING
AUTOMATED DRIVING
ASSISTED DRIVING
EYES ON
EYES OFF
HANDS ON
LEVEL
HANDS OFF
HANDS OFF (TEMPORARY)
0
1
DRIVER ONLY
DRIVER ASSISTANCE
Lane Departure Warning
Cruise Control
Automatic Transmission
Lane Keep Assist System
2
3
ADVANCED DRIVER ASSISTANCE
4
5
HIGHLY AUTOMATED
FULLY AUTOMATED
Park Assist Systems Autonomous Emergency Braking Systems Basic Platooning
Remote Control Parking Motorway Assist Mid-Range Platooning
Full Motorway Pilot Advanced platooning
Driverless Cars
The five levels of vehicle autonomy as defined by SAE and the technologies defining each level. Image: Pathway to Driverless Cars Report, UK Department for Transport, 2016. 32
THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER November 2017