Autonomous vehicles’ disengagements: Trends, triggers, and regulatory limitations

Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology is quickly becoming a reality on US roads. Testing on public roads is currently undergoing, with many AV makers located and testing in Silicon Valley, California. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (CA DMV) currently mandates that any vehicle tested on California public roads be retrofitted to account for a back-up human driver, and that data related to disengagements of the AV technology be publicly available. Disengagements data is analyzed in this work, given the safety-critical role of AV disengagements, which require the control of the vehicle to be handed back to the human driver in a safe and timely manner. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the fragmented data obtained from AV manufacturers testing on California public roads from 2014 to 2017. Trends of disengagement reporting, associated frequencies, average mileage driven before failure, and an analysis of triggers and contributory factors are here presented. The analysis of the disengagements data also highlights several shortcomings of the current regulations. The results presented thus constitute an important starting point for improvements on the current drafts of the testing and deployment regulations for autonomous vehicles on public roads.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2017.11.001
• Record URL:
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457517303822
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00014575
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Favarò, Francesca
  • Eurich, Sky
  • 0000-0001-6984-4875
  • Nader, Nazanin
  • 0000-0002-1159-4591
• Publication Date: 2018-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 136-148
• Serial:
  • Accident Analysis & Prevention
  • Volume: 110
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0001-4575
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00014575

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Autonomous vehicle guidance; Highway safety; Intelligent vehicles; Regulations; Technology; Vehicle tests
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01652398
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 30 2017 9:14AM