Driverless vehicles park themselves in rapidly expanding market

Alert needed

Due to rapid developments in the sector, terms such as "autonomous driving", "driverless vehicles" and "driver-assistance functions" are often misused.

For marketing reasons, carmakers sometimes describe driver-assisting Level 2 functions as "autonomous", a word that should be reserved for driverless vehicles at Level 4 and above.

Carmakers have not mass-produced Level 4 or even Level 3 private vehicles, and there is no legislation anywhere that allows such vehicles to reach the market.

Tesla, the first to offer ADAS, refers to such systems as Autopilot and Full Self Driving, but the company said, "No Tesla cars are fully autonomous today and they require active driver supervision."

Tesla and Nio vehicles have been involved in accidents when their ADAS was operating.

Dong Yang, vice-president of leading automotive think tank China EV 100, said carmakers should be more careful with high-level smart driving technologies.

"They must be objective. They must not brag about such technologies to sell vehicles. More important, they need to educate users about the new technology," Dong said.

Li Xiang, founder of startup Li Auto, said carmakers should adopt a standard naming strategy for driver-assistance functions. For Level 2 functions, the word "auto" should be banned, Li said.

Shi Jianhua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said there may be disparities between carmakers and drivers in their understanding of ADAS features.

Carmakers know that their Level 2 ADAS features require human drivers. They also know that autonomous driving is the future, but they may exaggerate the use of these features prematurely, Shi said.

He added that legislators should draft standards and laws to keep abreast of auto sector developments.

"Legislation will regulate the sector and facilitate its healthy progress," Shi said.