Sorry but more on AVs

http://www.brentwoodhomepage.com/senate-to-vote-thursday-morning-on-regulations-for-autonomous-vehicles-cms-25888#.Vv1sGvkrLIV


Surprisingly this is from Tennessee ....

A bill to codify the definitions of autonomous, or self-driving, vehicle use is likely to become law soon when the Tennessee Senate votes on Sen. Mark Green's (R-Clarksville) bill this Thursday.

The bill, SB 1561, will be the first in the U.S. to codify the definition of autonomy, expanding the definition of a driver to include that a human isn't required to control the vehicle.

It will amend a section of the Tennessee Code by adding that "'autonomous technology' means technology installed on a motor vehicle that has the capability to drive the motor vehicle without the active physical control or monitoring by a human operator."

This bit is really interesting...

Director of Audi Government Affairs in D.C. Brad Stertz said that there are six levels of autonomous driving. A level zero AV is a vehicle with no advanced technology. A level one AV is one that has things like adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection and lane keeping technologies. A level two AV is one that is semi-autonomous and those are just now starting to come on the market.

Level three AVs are about two to three years away for Audi and allow hands-free operation in highway traffic at around 35 to 40 miles per hour. For a computer algorithm, it's easier to predict the highway environment rather than in suburban areas that have more stops and lines on the roads.
Level four AVs would include technology like detecting when a passenger is having a heart attack, even pulling over for them, calling 911 and driving them to the nearest hospital. A level five AV is one that is fully-autonomous. A driver can be completely hands-free and can get where they need to go with no input.

"Eventually the technology will get there," Stertz said. "But it's up to 30 years away."

What I like is the following comment.

"From a legislative standpoint it's important to have these different levels because we've seen in some states where lawmakers want to regulate the cars that might be here in 25 years, not the ones that will be here in two years," Stertz said.

 As always, go read the original.

I will post a link to the actual legislation next week.