So, just who is an AV test driver?
Recently, the Autonomous Vehicle Safety Consortium™ proposed voluntary regulations for test drivers of autonomous vehicles (AVs). As a former test driver for Uber ATG, I can attest that having such regulations would have been helpful years ago. Whether such rules may have prevented the death of Elaine Herzberg in March 2018 will be open for debate for some time.
In urging a stricter vetting of test drivers prior to hiring, as well as on-road and in-class training prior to taking up the role of a field test driver of an AV, the AVSC calls attention to the AV industry’s tendency in years’ past to hire live bodies with valid drivers’ licenses. The AVSC proposal seeks to promote professionalism within the test driver ranks through continuing classes, training and on-going certification.
Kudos to the AV companies that adopt the AVSC standards; however, as a member of the road-going public how am I to know or be assured that the AV operating in my suburb adheres to the AVSC regulations? How well trained is the AV test driver that I saw today?
In fact, how well trained are drivers of vehicles that contain technology similar to the AVs being tested? For example, many modern vehicles contain relatively sophisticated technology, such as Lane-Keep-Assist™ or Adaptive-Cruise-Control™, which are the progenitors of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). These systems view the road environment via cameras and sensor suites and under limited circumstances are controlling the vehicle. Some vehicles are labelled as SAE Level 2+. Such vehicles, in some respects, rival the technology operating in the AVs being tested by the likes of Waymo, Aptiv, Uber ATG and many others. Do the individual owners of these wanna-be-AVs undergo a vetting process prior to getting behind the wheel as AVSC suggests? Do they receive training in how to operate the wanna-be-AV? Are these individuals serving as test drivers of these wanna-be-AVs? If so, should they demand training? Should they demand payment for services rendered or for relinquishing their driving data? I don’t know, but it seems that no amount of issue awareness can diminish the widespread enthusiasm for the promised safety of these wanna-be-AVs.
It’s one thing to consider a future where AVs effortlessly move to and fro routinely on our city streets. But frankly, the wanna-be-AVs are already here and your neighbour is driving one and his/her level of driver training already has made you nervous on more than one occasion. So, when it comes to managing the risk of employed AV test drivers, AVSC has entered the fray and is urging for voluntary restraint. As for the wanna-be-AV drivers, however, are we awakening to the ubiquity of science experiments being conducted on our public roads?
