Accidents happen frequently. Is intelligent driving assistance the real future or a false proposition?

Recently, the first crash of the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class in China has attracted great attention from people inside and outside the industry. The owner turned on the vehicle's advanced intelligent driving assistance system and it went into sleep mode, allowing the vehicle to drive automatically, which led to the accident. This has triggered a lot of heated discussions on the safety of autonomous driving. Are the autonomous driving functions that car companies are vigorously developing safer and more convenient, or are they just hype to take advantage of the popularity of intelligence?

There are many accidents caused by autonomous driving

The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class supports L3 autonomous driving. According to the owner's description, he fell asleep while driving after turning on the function, which resulted in the accident. In addition, this is not the first time that the owner has relied heavily on the advanced driving assistance system of the new S-Class. He had previously turned on the vehicle's intelligent driving function and played with his phone while driving the vehicle. It can be seen that he has great confidence in the safety of the vehicle's driving assistance system.

It is undeniable that in today's new four intelligent era, the autonomous driving technology of automobile companies has developed rapidly. New and old automobile companies are also constantly promoting their own autonomous driving functions, emphasizing that their own autonomous driving functions can completely free the driver's hands and feet, and have a more convenient and safer car life. For example, recently Tesla's Vice President of External Affairs Tao Lin also made it clear that driving is safer after Tesla's autonomous driving system.

In the era of intelligence, it is understandable that car companies want to occupy the high ground through advanced intelligent configurations, but excessive publicity can easily lead to misunderstandings among users. Coupled with the imprecise explanation of terminal sales staff, users may mistakenly believe that the automatic driving assistance system can achieve true automatic driving, so they can rest assured to distract themselves while driving.

In fact, traffic accidents caused by driving assistance systems are very common in daily car life. I searched for information online and found over 6.5 million pieces of information. Many of these accidents were caused by drivers’ excessive reliance on automatic driving assistance systems, just like the owners of the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

A typical example is Tesla's models. In order to highlight the intelligence of the vehicle, it has been boasting that the Autopolit automatic driving assistance system can achieve true automatic driving, which has led to users blindly using it and letting go of their hands and feet for a long time during driving, resulting in many major traffic accidents. Recently, a Tesla model in the United States also turned on the Autopolit function and deviated from the road when turning quickly, causing it to hit a tree and cause a fire.

It can be seen from the accident cases of the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Tesla models that the vehicle's automatic driving assistance system can only play an auxiliary role in the driving process and cannot replace the driver for automatic driving. The driver still needs to control everything about the vehicle at all times.

The accident was caused by the user's blind use of functions

In fact, there are currently no mass-produced vehicles on the market that can fully realize autonomous driving, and the law does not allow vehicles to be completely hands-free. The autonomous driving functions promoted by many car companies are basically ADAS driving assistance systems, which are still far from fully autonomous driving. However, users blindly trust the vehicle's autonomous driving assistance function, mainly because they equate ADAS driving assistance systems with fully autonomous driving and cannot distinguish the two.

In fact, the ADAS driving assistance system is only an advanced version of the fully automatic driving function, which is equivalent to the third level of automatic driving function, which is what we usually call the L2 automatic driving function.

Autonomous driving functions are divided into levels L0-L5. The current mainstream level is L2. The ADAS driving assistance systems of some models have richer functions, so the autonomous driving functions are also described as L2+, L2.5, and L2.9. However, it is still L2 after all, and there is still a certain gap with L3.

The L2 autonomous driving function has multiple system applications, such as LKA lane keeping function, ACC adaptive cruise control function, AEB automatic braking, etc., which helps the driver to accelerate, decelerate and turn. However, this function does not allow the driver to let go of his hands for a long time, and also requires the driver to pay attention to the road conditions at all times and be ready to intervene and control the vehicle at any time. The L2 autonomous driving function is equipped in many vehicles.

The L2+, L2.5 and L2.9 autonomous driving systems have richer functions but lower application levels. They mainly have additional functions such as automatic lane change or automatic exit ramp, rear collision warning, etc., and are currently mainly found in new models.

Some high-end models can achieve L3 level of autonomous driving, such as the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class. L3 level autonomous driving function is based on L2 level function with the addition of road condition monitoring function, but automation is still limited, and the driver still needs to handle the driving situation that cannot be handled. It can only be said that L3 level autonomous driving function is the beginning of fully autonomous driving, but it is still a long way from fully autonomous driving.

That is to say, from L0 to L3 autonomous driving functions, the driver needs to participate in controlling the vehicle. The accidents of the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Tesla models were caused by the owners ignoring this point. If the driver does not want to intervene in vehicle control, the vehicle's autonomous driving function needs to reach L4 and L5 levels.

However, upgrading from L3 to L4 and L5 is not easy to achieve. Not only are there legal and regulatory restrictions, but it also requires integrating the vehicle with everything around it to achieve all-round connectivity and information interaction between vehicles, vehicles and roadside infrastructure, vehicles and pedestrians, etc. This is very difficult, and companies currently do not have sufficient technology to realize these functions.

In other words, the autonomous driving functions of vehicles currently promoted by car companies and car sales staff all require manual intervention. Drivers need to pay attention to road conditions at all times while driving and be prepared to take over the vehicle at any time.

Accidents happen frequently. Is autonomous driving a false proposition?

Even though the development process is full of difficulties and the autonomous driving function has caused many accidents, the development of autonomous driving technology is of great significance to the development of the global automotive industry and is of great help in improving vehicle driving safety, so car companies are also vigorously developing intelligent technology.

In this regard, Tesla boss Elon Musk has previously stated that the accident rate of Teslas with autopilot functions is 10 times lower than that of ordinary vehicles. This number is not ruled out to be exaggerated, but it is undeniable that there are many limitations in human-operated vehicles. After all, everyone's energy is limited, and fatigue, slow reaction, and misjudgment may occur during driving. If advanced driving technology replaces the driver, the accident rate is expected to be greatly reduced. Of course, the premise is that the advanced technology will not fail.

In fact, the help of autonomous driving technology to vehicle safety has been reflected in the L2 level autonomous driving system. The frequent accidents now are mainly due to improper human operation. If the driver can combine with the autonomous driving assistance system, then the driving process will be more convenient and safe. Take the car buyer's car as an example. He often turns on the L2 level autonomous driving function when driving on the highway. Although he needs to hold the steering wheel and pay attention to the road conditions, it can effectively free the right foot and prevent the vehicle from deviating. It always stays in the center of the lane. The car is easier to use than the car without the autonomous driving assistance function.

In the future, I believe that the autonomous driving functions of cars will become more and more intelligent and advanced, but if we want these functions to truly bring convenience to our car life, I think the best way is to use them to assist in driving the vehicle, not to replace the driver.

It is indisputable that the automatic driving assistance function brings convenience and safety to our car life, but we have not yet reached the point of complete control over the vehicle. If we want these functions to play their full role, car companies must not only improve the technology and ensure the technical safety, but also users must enhance their understanding of the configuration. Only reliable technology, coupled with correct usage, can ensure safe driving.