In recent years, we’ve seen auto brands and manufacturers making marked advancements in the race to produce fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles. While commercially available fully autonomous vehicles may still be months or years away, 2023 is looking like the year in which vehicle autonomy will break through to the mainstream market. Let’s take a closer look at exactly what vehicle autonomy is and what consumers can expect in this coming year:
What is vehicle autonomy? – Vehicle autonomy is where a car is capable of performing driving tasks and processes usually carried out by a human driver. Many vehicles being produced by manufacturers including Volkswagen, Mercedes and Tesla Inc already display a degree of autonomy, whether that be through the use of limited Driver Assistance Systems or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), where vehicles may perform more complex tasks such as steering, acceleration and environmental detection. Currently, this kind of vehicle is graded in 6 stages or categories: non-automated vehicles (manual cars in which the human performs all driving tasks), driver assistance vehicles (which usually feature a single automated system), partial automation (where a human is still required to monitor tasks such as steering), conditional automation (where a vehicle is capable of carrying out certain tasks in specific conditions), high automation (where cars can carry out complex driving tasks in any condition) and full automation (where a human driver is not required for complex driving tasks). At present, many manufacturers are still pushing for level 3 (conditional automation) vehicles, which can still be covered by gap insurance in the case of a total loss claim. What else can we expect to see being rolled out this year?
– Robotaxi service expansion – We’ve already seen robotaxis and roboshuttles rolled out for trials across the United States, with the French companies Navya and EasyMile taking the lead in the roboshuttle industry. Essentially, robotaxis and roboshuttles are designed to provide easy driverless transport options – we’re likely to see more trials popping up in the UK this year.
– Commercial ‘driver-out’ autonomous trucking – Along with driverless public and private transport options, 2023 will be the year when we see the first trials of autonomous vehicles being used in the commercial trucking industry – while these are likely to be initially used for simple routes, it’s likely that we’ll see this used to a more complex degree as the technology improves and if the trials are successful.
– More level three vehicles in Europe – Whereas the Mercedes S-Class was previously the only true level 3 (conditional automation) vehicle available on the European market, 2023 is likely to uncover a range of new options in European showrooms. Due to advancements made in radar and LiDAR tech, more manufacturers such as BMW and Stellantis are likely to roll out level three motors this year. We’ve also seen the UK government make changes to the Highway Code to strengthen legislative flexibility for autonomous cars on the road.
