The era of electric cars has always been about more than saving the environment. Sure, that’s a huge bonus, but for many, the real allure of this new generation of vehicles is more about the possibility of fully autonomous self-driving. For the first time, people in the know are claiming Level 5 fully autonomous vehicles could be available less than a year from now, and that could change everything – including how we define “road head!”
“I’m extremely confident that level 5 or essentially complete autonomy will happen and I think will happen very quickly,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in the remarks he made via a video message at the opening of Shanghai’s annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC). “I remain confident that we will have the basic functionality for level 5 autonomy complete this year.”
There are six distinct levels of self-driving. Let’s look at each level and see how likely people are to be having sex in a moving vehicle that doesn’t even have a steering wheel soon:
Level 0 (No Driving Automation)
Most vehicles on the road today are manually controlled Level 0 machines. Of course, there are things like anti-lock brakes that make it easier for the driver. Still, the driver controls every move the vehicle makes, which makes sexual activity extremely dangerous while the car is in motion.
Level 1 (Driver Assistance)
This is the lowest level of automation. Some high-end cars now have basic driver assistance tools like adaptive cruise control, which allows your vehicle to keep itself at a safe distance behind the car ahead of it. These actions qualify as Level 1 because the human driver monitors the vehicle’s decisions and can override them rather than doing it all manually. While this feature is convenient, it offers nowhere near the amount of autonomy needed to engage in car sex safely.
Level 2 (Partial Driving Automation)
An Advanced Driver Assistance System or ADAS takes you to Level 2, which means the vehicle can control the steering and accelerate or decelerate. Tesla Autopilot and Cadillac Super Cruise are among the systems that now qualify as Level 2. However, these systems come with all kinds of caveats and terms agreements that make the driver aware that their car is not authorized for hands-free sex while driving… yet.
Level 3 (Conditional Driving Automation)
Level 3 vehicles have “environmental detection” capabilities and make informed decisions like accelerating past a slow car. But the driver must remain alert if the system is unable to execute the task. Audi announced that their next generation of the A8 would be the world’s first Level 3 vehicle, and in 2019 the Audi A8L arrived. It features Traffic Jam Pilot, which combines a Lidar scanner and many other advanced sensors. However, U.S. regulation shifted from federal to state-by-state mandates, so the vehicles have been shipping without the key hardware and software required to achieve Level 3 functionality.
Level 4 (High Driving Automation)
Level 4 vehicles can intervene if things go wrong or if there is a system failure. And while some Level 4 test vehicles can operate in self-driving mode, until legislation and infrastructure evolve, they can only drive in minimal areas at top speeds of about 30 mph. This kind of geo-fencing is meant to keep the public safe while allowing engineers to test and gather data from the first generation of Level 4 vehicles.
Alphabet’s Waymo recently unveiled a Level 4 self-driving taxi service in Arizona, where they tested driverless cars. Now, other car companies are eager to get into the automated robo-taxi business, including Uber and Lyft, that allows you to safely fuck other passengers while moving.
Level 5 (Full Driving Automation)
Level 5 cars won’t even have steering wheels or acceleration/braking pedals. They will be free from geofencing, able to go anywhere and do anything that an experienced human driver can do. No Level 5 car has ever been produced, but it’s mainly a matter of ethics more than tech. For example, if your car detects a J-walker and must choose between crashing to avoid the pedestrian (putting the driver at risk) or keeping you safe by running over the J-walker, which decision should it make?
These decisions will have to be made, and many technical challenges will have to be met before the Level 5 car can become a reality. Still, Musk says they have almost done it, and as much as people have been wrong by disbelieving him in the past, some are ready to give him the benefit of the doubt.
It’s important to note that the difference from one level to the next isn’t a linear climb technologically. While the leap from Level 1 to Level 2 was just a matter of time, some theorists and futurists have predicted that getting from Level 4 to Level 5 self-driving vehicles will be technologically impossible. Still, the human condition and our urge as a species to continue doing newer, bigger, and better things are driving many of the world’s brightest engineers to pursue the impossible with a passion that might prove all the naysayers wrong again.
The real question is, how quickly can fans get a car big enough for 8 or 10 people with all the seats removed and a king-size mattress mounted to the floor of the vehicle instead?
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