It's Time to Rethink Levels of Automation for Self-Driving Vehicles [Opinion]

Discusses issues involving the automation of self-driving vehicles. Reports on the technology of self-driving or autonomous automobiles. Examines the extent to which these vehicles serve the public interest as well as the level of consumer confidence in driving these vehicles. Suggests that self-driving cars could be a transformative technology in both good and bad ways. The important questions are not to do with when they will arrive but where, for whom, and in what forms they will appear. If we want a clearer sense of the possibilities from automated vehicle systems, we need to broaden our gaze [3]. Rather than emphasizing the autonomy of self-driving vehicles, we should instead be talking about their conditionality. We need to know about the circumstances in which different systems could have an impact on our lives. Self-driving vehicle systems will serve different purposes and take on different shapes in different places. A schema for innovation that points in one direction and says nothing about the desirability of the destination makes for a poor roadmap.