I didnt want to have to do this, but we need to talk.
The levels of automation thought up by theSociety of Automotive Engineers(SAE) are not what you think.
Its probably time that we let them go.
Human-machine interaction researcher Liza Dixon summed up the reason why quite clearly in a Tweet yesterday.
The narrative pits each carmaker, startup, and developer against each other in a sprint to the finish.
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Just last week in Japan, Honda claimed to have released the first Level 3 certified vehicle.
The certification came from theJapanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism,Jalopnik writes.
But this asks more questions than it answers.
Does that mean that Hondas self-driving tech will get the same certification in other countries?
How do we establish what level a car is?
Who should get authority and oversight on this kind of stuff anyway?
What does it all mean?
When will there be 1 milliondriverless taxison our roads?
What company will make theworlds first Level 3 certifiedvehicle?
[Read:How do you build a pet-friendly gadget?
However, its not surprising the SAE levels have been characterized as a hierarchical race to the top.
And what happens in a video game?
We complete and work through each level to reach the final stage where victory awaits.
The reality is, its not a race or a video game.
Lives are at stake, not fake pixel-based ones, actual real human lives.
Level 2 already means diff things to different ppl.
L2+ in context be interpreted in diff ways: Level 2 & higher?
Level 2 “Advanced”?
There is no central source that defines its meaning.
Think about Tesla and how it talks about its not actually self-driving tech.
One of its systems is called Autopilot, the other system is called Full Self Driving.
Even though they are different systems, they are capable of largely the same thing to varying degrees.
Perhaps its time we broke up with the SAE Levels to start afresh.
With hindsight, it seems using the word levels was a bad idea from the start.
Sorry SAE Levels, but its time we broke up, and started over.
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Story byMatthew Beedham
Matthew is the editor of SHIFT.
He likes electric cars, and other things with wheels, wings, or hulls.
