Levels of autonomy 

Although the terms self-driving and autonomous are often used, not all vehicles have the same capabilities. The automotive industry uses the Society of Automotive Engineering's (SAE's) autonomy scale to determine various levels of autonomous capacity. The levels of autonomy help us understand where we stand in terms of this fast-moving technology.

In the following sections, we will provide simple explanations of each autonomy level.

Level 0 – manual cars

In Level 0 autonomy, both the steering and the speed of the car are controlled by the driver. Level 0 autonomy may include issuing a warning to the driver, but the vehicle itself may not take any action.

Level 1 – driver support

In level 1 autonomy, the driver of the car takes care of controlling most of the features of the car. They look at all the surrounding environments, acceleration, braking, and steering. An example of level 1 is that if the vehicle gets too close to another vehicle, it will apply the brake automatically. 

Level 2 – partial automation

In level 2 autonomy, the vehicle will be partially automated. The vehicle can take over the steering or speed acceleration and will try to eliminate drivers from performing a few basic tasks. However, the driver is still required in the car for monitoring critical safety functions and environmental factors.

Level 3 – conditional automation

With level 3 autonomy and higher, the vehicle itself performs all environmental monitoring (using sensors such as LIDARs). At this level, the vehicle can drive in autonomous mode in certain situations, but the driver should be ready to take over when the vehicle is in a situation that may exceed the vehicle's control limit.

Level 4 – high automation

Level 4 autonomy is just one level below full automation. In this level of autonomy, the vehicle can control the steering, brakes, and acceleration of the car. It can even monitor the vehicle itself, as well as pedestrians, and the highway as a whole. Here, the vehicle can drive in autonomous mode for the majority of the time; however, a human is still required to take over in uncontrollable situations, such as in crowded places such as cities and streets.

Level 5 – complete automation

In level 5 autonomy, the vehicle will be completely autonomous. Here, no human driver is required; the vehicle controls all the critical tasks such as steering, the brakes, and the pedals. It will monitor the environment and identify and react to all unique driving conditions such as traffic jams. 

Now, let's move on and look at the approaches of deep learning and computer vision for SDCs.