Following the launch of the Partners for Automated Vehicle Education United Kingdom (PAVE UK), ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International recently caught up with Professor Siddartha Khastgir, head of verification and validation, WMG, University of Warwick, and director of PAVE UK, to discuss current public perception of autonomous driving and automated vehicles.
The PAVE UK initiative aims to build public confidence in self-driving technology through a program of education and engagement, supporting the UK government’s ambition to safely deploy self-driving vehicles on the road and its aim to make the UK the leader in artificial intelligence (AI).
Recent, high-profile incidents in California, ranging from the placing of cones on the hoods of self-driving robo-taxis in a deliberate ploy to confuse and disable them, through to a Waymo vehicle being attacked and set on fire, underline the importance of building public trust before you deploy new technology on public roads.
“It’s a very different environment in the US compared to here in the UK and in Europe,” responds Khastgir. “The US favors ‘self-certification’, where the organization itself takes ownership of public deployment, but we have ‘type approval’ in Europe and the UK, where the regulatory authority has responsibility to approve the technology, first. They’re two very different regulatory regimes.”
As the regulatory framework takes shape, PAVE UK will work closely with the entire UK connected and automated mobility (CAM) ecosystem, to carry out education and engagement programs, such as research-based educational materials packs, school outreach activities, community outreach, an online video library, webinars, and an online educational app. WMG at the University of Warwick is responsible for delivering this content, which aims to redress some of the current misconceptions surrounding existing automotive technology.
“The big mission right now is for the public to understand the difference between driver assistance systems and self-driving systems,” explains Khastgir. “Too many people misconstrue current driver assistance systems as being self-driving, which can lead to fatalities or accidents. A lot of our engagement and awareness activities will therefore be focused on that side of things.”
Khastgir points to Thatcham Research’s Trust in Automation consumer study, which found that just over half of UK drivers think that they can buy a fully autonomous car, today. “Their understanding of a self-driving car is not accurately calibrated or correctly framed,” he says. “PAVE UK will help people to understand what the technology is.”
Auto maker marketing departments have not helped, with their use of sometimes misleading product names, however Khastgir points out the responsibility to educate the public is not the OEM’s alone: “I think manufacturers have a big role to play, but how many times have you read your driver’s manual?” he asks.
“Most drivers ignore the manual and rely on the 10-minute demo at the showroom, before they embark on their own path of self-discovery of what the car can do, which in the era of self-driving, can be quite dangerous. Manufacturers absolutely have a role to play, and they need to do better than just a driver manual. But at the same time, the media and the advertising world also have a big role to play in helping to make people more aware of what these technologies are, as well as the differences between assisted driving and true self driving. You cannot use technical jargon such as ‘ODD’ and ‘test scenario’ – you need to do it in a much more accessible manner. And that’s where PAVE UK comes in.”
The most advanced Level 3 systems, that enable drivers to take their hands off the wheel, but require they keep their eyes on the road, have only further complicated the landscape. “You need to be very careful how you define self-driving in a Level 3 system,” says Khastgir. “At this point in time, we don’t have any Level 3 systems currently approved for use on UK roads.”
The ongoing backlash against self-driving robotaxis across the Atlantic just shows how easily it can go wrong: “You cannot impose technology on the public,” says Khastgir. “We need to bring the public along with us and awareness and education is a crucial first step. Once public trust has gone, it’s very difficult to regain. PAVE UK will begin with a series of webinars in the next few weeks, but we are also very focused on two-way engagement, so we’re looking at outreach events in schools, with this demographic the most likely to experience true self driving in the next two to three years; and we’re also looking at large-scale science festivals.”
To work with PAVE UK, please email PAVEUK@warwick.ac.uk
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