Autonomous vehicles have been a hot topic for a few years now, with companies like Uber and Tesla regularly making announcements about driverless fleets and auto piloted cars. When the discussion fully entered the public discourse around 2016, claims were made about driverless cars being everywhere by 2021 and making roads safer forever. (Do check out our blog for more articles on automobile safety)
In this article:
1. Where We Are
2. The Different Levels of Autonomous Vehicles
1 Where We Are
Airbags are one of the most crucial safety features every car must have. Over time, airbags have evolved to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers. They considerably reduce the chance of severe injuries during car accidents by absorbing shock. Without airbags, drivers and passengers are at high risk of getting injured. New and advanced front airbags have sensors that adjust the inflation level according to seat position and crash severity. Curtain airbags are another type of airbag that protect passengers from side collisions.
Check here to know more about how airbags work in case of collisions.
2 The Different Levels of Autonomous Vehicles
To give some context, SAE International defines six levels of automation for vehicles:
| Level | Description |
| Level 0 | No automation: All aspects of driving are human-controlled |
| Level 1 | Driver assistance: The driver assistance system controls either steering or acceleration-deceleration under limited conditions |
| Level 2 | Partial automation: The driver assistance system controls steering and acceleration-deceleration under limited conditions |
| Level 3 | Conditional automation: Automated driving under limited conditions; requests human intervention when needed |
| Level 4 | High automation: Automated driving under limited conditions; drives without human intervention |
| Level 5 | Full automation: Automated driving under all conditions; drives without human intervention |
Levels 0–2 represent driver assistance features, while levels 3–5 represent automated driving features.
3 Where We’ll Be
While there aren’t many truly autonomous cars on the road, there have been some successes. . For example, the Waymo One Robotaxi is a fully autonomous taxi service currently operating in Phoenix, Arizona, and running off an app much like Uber. It’s clear that things are getting closer; it’s just a matter of time.
Companies like Apple hope to have their own fleets of driverless electric cars on the road by 2026, but getting everyone on board could be a challenge. Some commentators argue that 100% of cars will need to be autonomous before they can be considered a truly safe presence on the road, but this is highly unlikely.
4 When We’ll Get There
So when will self-driving cars be common on our roads? Well, it’s hard to say definitively.
Necmiye Ozay, who’s an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan, believes that we will not see autonomous cars that are safe enough for all of the road’s potential hazards until at least 2031. On the other hand, Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and other tech billionaires appear to be determined to make it happen sooner, so perhaps you’ll be riding in a futuristic driverless car by the 2020s. The only way to know is to wait and see.
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