Johann Jungwirt, chief digital officer of the Volkswagen Group, is clearly frustrated. In the recent showcase of the development of its first self-driving car, the Sedric concept car, Zhu Weite knows that car companies are caught in a "battle" with technology companies for the leadership of autonomous vehicles. However, the former Apple engineer is concerned that European regulation has hampered efforts to promote electric autonomous vehicles, although public management has decided to mass-produce the autonomous driving concept.
The concept car debuted at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show and was built on the new MEB platform. It is the first concept car of the Volkswagen Group that can achieve L5 autopilot (completely autonomous driving). There is no steering wheel and pedals in the car, only the passenger seat; a huge display is arranged behind the front seats for human-computer interaction and entertainment functions; you can use the remote control to make a one-click call and automatically find it when you arrive at the destination. PARKING LOT.
"My goal is to enter the first city in the United States that will allow driverless cars to travel in 2021," said Devilt. After that, Middle East cities such as China, Singapore and Dubai will also be launched one after another. "Then it is Europe. Since this is our local market, we would have liked to promote automatic driving early, but the relevant laws and regulations do not exist at all."
According to United Nations statistics, 1.25 million people die each year from traffic accidents and as many as 50 million are injured in road traffic accidents. Every year, children, the elderly or physically disabled have little or no access to individuals. Research shows that parking space accounts for 30% of the city's traffic.
Thousands of tons of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere every year from continuous traffic jams and endless parking lots. Volkswagen's self-driving car Sedric and other similar companies that drive cars may change the above difficulties. Automated driving will completely change the mode of transport, as permitted by law.
Once the self-driving car can continue to drive on the road and can carry passengers normally, Zhuerte believes that parking in the city will no longer be a long-term public problem. Valuable downtown parking spaces can also be recycled and converted into office buildings or apartments to accommodate the growing urban population.
Automakers prefer test points for self-driving cars such as Sedric in California rather than Europe, at least for now. Many automakers already have a Silicon Valley-based engineer autopilot team. Engineers there are technically savvy, open to innovation, and have wider streets, weather conditions are often ideal, and state governments support the development of autonomous driving.
In contrast, one of the main obstacles in Europe is the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The committee is responsible for overseeing the development of standards for the use and use of motor vehicles. As regulators focus on more gradual innovation, there is no consensus in about 60 countries around the launch of the driverless car standard.
In fact, the entire continent of Europe is governed by the UN’s Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. This has largely limited the use of driverless cars on public roads, limiting autopilot testing to very limited scenarios, and legalizing its business operations can take years to become a reality.
“Because of UNECE, we are really at a disadvantage in the field of autonomous driving,” said Zhuerte. “The winner can eat everything.”
In response to these criticisms, the UN Economic Commission for Europe recently introduced a procedure that allows companies to apply for special exemptions for autonomous vehicles. However, this issue has caused controversy among the members of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, which means that the outcome of the negotiations is uncertain, and at least a quarter of the majority need to vote for support.
In contrast, both the United States and China, laws and regulations have special regulations for autonomous driving. This allows them to respond faster to technological advances and create different autopilot regulatory environments for automakers.
Renata Jungo Bruengger, a member of Daimler's board of directors, said: "Technological progress cannot be stopped because of national boundaries. Legislation must keep pace with technological advances. Otherwise, the primary innovations of autonomous driving and autonomous driving will not be able to get on the road."
Most automakers are spending big to keep up with the fear that cash-rich technology companies are taking advantage of their expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning to seize the autopilot gold market.
Daimler plans to launch a highly automated autonomous fleet in the second half of next year, while rival BMW will test autopilots in China. The first international BMW manufacturer in China to obtain an autopilot road test license in China. In addition, the BMW iNext, which the BMW Group plans to launch in 2021, will meet the safety technical requirements for Level 3 to Level 5 autonomous driving.
Waymo, the leader in autonomous driving, has been testing 7 million miles on public road testing since 9 years ago. At the beginning of June, Waymo's self-driving car lineup continued to expand, and then purchased 62,000 Pacifica self-driving cars from Fiat Chrysler (FCA), which is more than 100 times larger than the 600 units purchased in advance. This huge autonomous fleet is expected to officially launch a car service in Phoenix, Arizona, later this year, and Waymo will be the first to commercialize its operations on an increasingly self-driving track.
“The regulatory and policy environment is very important. Europe is different from the US. There are indeed differences. But we also have the yaqiya opportunity to experiment with autonomous vehicles in Europe,” said Waymo CEO John Krafcik.
I hope that the public and other colleagues will not fall behind too much. “The mileage in the real world is very important, but they are insignificant for the more than 5 billion miles we have accumulated in the simulation,” Rafik said. “In the simulation, we can create a ratio. The more challenging situation we find in the real world."
Rafik also said, "We are quite skeptical about Level 5 autopilot. It takes decades, and I don't even think it is necessary." Schweitzer disagreed, "Autopilot technology is ready. I would love to see laws and regulations support us. Allowing road testing is good, but what we need is business operations and eventually scale up."
