Self-Driving Car Disengagement Reports Show Technology is Not Road Ready

Posted on February 2, 2017 by J Sammy 2 comments

California Department of Motor Vehicles today released Disengagement Reports from Companies testing self driving cars on California’s public roads. These Reports indicate the self-driving technology is not ready to be deployed without human drivers behind a steering wheel who can take control when the self-driving technology fails, Consumer Watchdog said.

“Despite the self-serving hype of the manufacturers, robot technology simply isn’t ready for our roads without hands-on, behind-the-wheel engagement and supervision by a human driver,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project Director.

Eleven companies with permits to test robot cars in the state were required to file this year.

The report from Google’s autonomous vehicle unit Waymo, shows the shortcomings of self-driving cars had problems dealing with others vehicles on the road, construction zones, and correctly perceiving their surroundings. In the past the company has said, for example, that its robot cars had difficulty correctly perceiving overhanging branches. There were also software glitches and times when the test driver took over because the robot car made an unwanted maneuver.

Waymo/Google’s robot cars logged 635,868 miles on California’s roads in self-driving mode during the 2016 reporting period, substantially more than any other company testing in the state. That compares with 414,331 miles in the 2015 reporting period. Waymo/Google said disengagements declined from 341 to 124, or 0.8 per 1,000 miles compared to 0.2 per 1,000 miles. Most of the disengagements – 112 – came on local streets, not highways or freeways.

Delphi reported its two test robot cars drove 3,125 miles in self-driving mode and had 178 disengagements. Reasons given for disengaging included: construction zones, lane changing in heavy traffic, emergency vehicles, poor lane markings, pedestrians, cyclists, failure to detect a traffic light and unexpected behavior from another driver.

Ford reported 3 disengagements in 590 miles.

BMW reported 1 disengagement in 638 miles.

GM Cruise reported its robot cars drove 10,014.94 miles and had 284 disengagements.

Mercedes-Benz reported 336 disengagements in 673 miles.

Nissan reported 28 disengagements in 4,099 miles.

Tesla tested four vehicles in October and November combined 550 miles in self-driving mode, reported 182 disengagements.

Bosch said its cars drove 980.8 miles and had 1,442 disengagements.

Honda – Tested on closed circuit only.

Volkswagen – did not carry out any self driving test.