The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA ) announced on Tuesday that vehicle producer mustreport all incidentsin which driver - assistance and ego - drive systems are involved in a serious accident .
As reported by the Washington Post , the NHTSA said that the new essential will apply to all system it defines asLevel 2 to point 5 mechanization . The NHTSA consider Level 0 mechanization to be none whatsoever and degree 1 to be vehicles operated by humans where “ some drive assist features may be included . ” horizontal surface 2 is any driver help system that “ has combined automatise function , like acceleration and steering , but the driver must remain engaged , ” while Levels 3 - 5 require less human process on a reformist scale . Under the new rules , accidents involving hospital care or death , a bicyclist or pedestrian , a tow truck , or airbags move off must be reported within one day of the automaker erudition of it , while other crash must be reported monthly .
That means most all of the in advance ego - motor and driver - assist technology under development by companies like Tesla , Alphabet - owned Waymo , Aurora , and major auto manufacturerssuch as Toyotawill be subject to the new requirements . Currently , statistic on just how dangerous ( or safe ) machine-controlled and in advance assistance driving may be are hard to arrive by . Level 3 to 5 vehicles are not commercially usable but various manufacturers aretesting them . While historically crash data has been stack away inonboard black boxes , vehicle areincreasingly connectedto the net , and data on assisted or autonomous drive might be beamed over the air exclusively to manufacturers ’ database , asin the casing of Tesla .
The console of a Tesla seen at a showroom in Red Hook, Brooklyn in 2016.Photo: Spencer Platt (Getty Images)
In anews release , the NHTSA wrote that reportage requirements will give to all incident where a Level 2 or above “ system was engaged during or right away before the crash , ” which it sum might show “ common pattern in driverless vehicle crash or systematic problem in operation . ” Acting Administrator Steven Cliff characterized the decision in the release as potentially upright news for manufacturers , as it could “ help instill public confidence ” that the federal government is ensuring autonomous systems are safe on the nation ’s roads .
The feds have , in the yesteryear , mostly leave the nascent sector toregulate itself , leave autonomous vehicle regulation largely to DoS . Since June 2016 , NHTSA reports sending special investigation teams to 31 crashes involving partly automated gadget driver - assistance organization , according to Al Jazeera .
Tesla’sAutopilot feature , which is Level 2 , has attract peculiar examination after a routine of Tesla owners fix into accidents while the feature was enabled , perhaps under the picture that AutoPilotis far more advancedthan it really iscourtesy of the company ’s marketing . According to the Post , the NHTSA is aware of more than two dozen accidents affect Autopilot , including one in which a Tesla driver died after slam dance into a truck . As theVerge mark , there have been atleast 11 deathsin nine crash ask Tesla Autopilot since 2015 and another nine decease in 11 accidents across the globe .
Uberabandoned its self - drive ambitionsafter an notorious 2018 incident in which a auto operated by a distrait workerstruck and killedElaine Herzberg in Arizona . Waymo , the Alphabet subsidiary , secrete datalast twelvemonth showing that over the class of 6.1 million self-governing miles driven in Phoenix , Arizona , its prototype railway car were involved in 18 accidents involving collisions and 29 freestanding incidents that necessitate human intercession , probably to debar one . For comparison , theNHTSA reported84 injured mortal per 100 million vehicle mil nationally in 2019 . The Ayn Rand Corporationpublished a studyin 2016 argue it would take data from 100 of millions to billions of miles move to determine how many injury and fatality might be due to driverless vehicle versus standard ones .
The NHTSA is also involve accidents involve part automated Lexus , Volvo , and Cadillac models , Al Jazeera reported , as well as a Navya Arma low - upper shuttle .
“ The delegacy has apparently finally heard the Center for Auto Safety ’s long - standing call for the Union government to wage in oversight of the unregulated applied science presently being tested on America ’s road with neither a warning to the residents , nor any data being pull in , ” Center for Auto Safety executive director Jason Levinetold Reuters .
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