China's automotive market has recently set off a boom in L3 autonomous driving technology, with a number of automakers announcing that vehicles equipped with L3 autonomous driving functions have obtained road test licenses in different cities.
The AVATR 11, Deep Blue SL03, and ARCFOX Alpha S equipped with L3 autonomous driving systems have been tested on high-speed roads in Beijing and Chongqing.
In addition, Mercedes-Benz, which has certified L3 systems abroad, BMW, which has been low-key before, and its own brand Zhiji have obtained L3 autonomous driving test licenses.
A number of car companies have obtained L3 road test licenses, and autonomous driving seems to be just around the corner, but is autonomous driving really coming?
At present, cars are generally equipped with Level 2 intelligent driving assistance systems, at which the model can control the steering wheel in certain situations, but the driver still needs to maintain attention and keep his hands on the steering wheel. In general, systems with functions such as adaptive cruise control and lane keeping can be called Level 2.
The difference between Level 3 and Level 2 is that after entering the intelligent driving assistance state, the driver can not pay attention to the road conditions, his eyes can be legally off the road, and his hands can also take off the steering wheel, and only need to take over when the vehicle cannot handle it.
I don't know if you have noticed that the intelligent driving system of the new car launched in 2023 has begun to gradually advertise itself as close to L3. Some models are self-advertised as L2+ and L2 by car companies5、l2.999 and so on, but even if they introduce more functions on the basis of L2, they dare not claim to have achieved L3 intelligent driving assistance after all.
Why?Or a question of law and division of responsibility.
L2 rated vehicles, whether L2+ or L2999...Even if it is actually as intelligent as Optimus Prime, the driver cannot drive with his phone or take his attention off the road to do other things, because it is illegal to do so.
Once it becomes L3, the responsibility for accidents in the state of autonomous driving will be borne by the car company.
The propaganda method of major car companies to distinguish their own intelligent driving level from the traditional L2 level with various symbol suffixes is actually understandable, because it can reach the basic adaptive cruise, lane keeping assist and other functions can be called L2 level, and many of these functions can be equipped with less than 100,000 cars. Functions such as NOA and autonomous valet parking are indeed a step forward to a higher level of intelligence on the basis of ordinary L2.
The L3 test license scandal is a step forward in the legal aspect.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Transport jointly issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Pilot Work of Intelligent Networked Vehicle Access and Road Traffic", which clearly mentions this: when there is an accident or illegal act of autonomous vehicle liability, the responsibility shall be borne by the driver in the case of the "non-activation" of the autonomous driving system;When an autonomous driving system is "activated", the responsibility rests with the business.
In the past, as long as the landing time of L3 autonomous driving was not clearly indicated, L2+ car companies and L2+++ or L2Level 9 car companies can still hide in the safe haven of "car owner conceit" on the one hand, let car owners bear the consequences, and on the other hand, let car owners enjoy a driving experience that is better than L3 level automated driving.
However, it is worth noting that the intelligent driving plans of almost all car companies are being postponed or shrunk to varying degrees. At the beginning of this year, each company has officially announced the landing schedule of urban NOA, among which about 10 brands will use the end of this year as the node of urban NOA landing, and now it is close to 2024, let's see how these car companies are doing.
Ideal previously announced that its city NOA (beta version) will cover 100 cities by the end of this year, but later adjusted to land commuter NOA in 100 cities, not only changed the name to the so-called "commuter version", but also its landing scope is only Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and other 10 cities.
The number of Xpeng Kaicheng has reached 25, concentrated in the Pearl River Delta region, around Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, as well as in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities. AITO has landed in 6 cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Hangzhou.
In other words, the cakes drawn by L2 have not been eaten yet, and a lot of NOA has not fully landed. In the case that the technical level is not reached, naturally no one dares to touch the hard bone of L3.
Compared with the problem of L3's legal and liability division, car companies are more willing to draw more pies to sell concepts, and then hide in the safe haven of "car owners are conceited", promoting the argument that "L3 is a false proposition".
I still remember that in the past two years, executives from all walks of life have stood up and said that L3 is meaningless, and they should skip L3 and go straight to L4 L5 ......Then they sell all kinds of "epoch-making technologies", and as long as there is an accident, these car companies can also use the current legal system to throw the pot away.
Originally, such a routine may be able to work well for a long time.
Until July this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China issued the "Guidelines for the Construction of the National Internet of Vehicles Industry Standard System (Intelligent Connected Vehicles) (2023 Edition)", which pointed out that the chronicle node of 2025 will be used as a standard system for intelligent networked vehicles that can support the general functions of combined driving assistance and autonomous driving, which means that the competition accumulation period of the L3 market will only leave a 2-year window period. Whether car companies want to wade into this water or not, the layout of L3 is already on the way.
However, we should not be too optimistic about the real landing time of L3 intelligent driving, and the L3 function that has been used at this stage is still very rudimentary, and it can only be used in some high-speed sections, at medium and low speeds, and along fixed lanes.
And due to the legal particularity of L3, it is not allowed to be like many car companies today, the driver is ready to take over at any time, and allows the driver to intervene in the operation of the intelligent driving mode, because allowing the driver to intervene will also lead to the consequences of unclear division of responsibility.
In other words, the "autonomy" of L3 will always be at the forefront of the development process, which leads to its high development difficulty and the current narrow application environment.
And even if the technology is fully developed one day in the future, the issue of marketing strategy and cost will be a problem that cannot be ignored.
Cars with high-end intelligent driving assistance functions are usually more expensive, taking the new M7 as an example, the intelligent driving version is equipped with a total of 27 sensors including 1 lidar and the high-end intelligent driving system of Huawei ADS, which is priced at 40,000 yuan more expensive than the ordinary version.
The requirements for software and hardware for L3 autonomous driving systems will only be high, not low, and the BMW Group has previously said that its L3 autonomous driving technology suite will use a new LiDAR system and integrate more high-performance sensors.
In addition, the "Notice on Carrying out the Pilot Work on the Access and Road Access of Intelligent Connected Vehicles" requires enterprises to purchase compulsory traffic insurance and traffic accident liability insurance for autonomous vehicles on the road, of which the amount of traffic accident liability insurance for each vehicle shall not be less than 5 million yuan.
This part of the additional cost will inevitably fall on the head of every consumer who buys the L3 level model.
At the same time, consumers who have spent a lot of money to buy L2 system hardware and have not eaten the "cake", as well as the onlookers, can still have much trust in the upcoming L3.
So this time, no matter how the manufacturers "draw the pie", I believe that in the face of L3 autonomous driving technology, everyone's consumption will tend to be rational and no longer willing to wait".
Compared to passenger cars, it may be faster for commercial vehicles to promote autonomous driving technology.
Commercial vehicles are even more practical for the use of autonomous driving technology, as it can intuitively reduce transportation costs. Commercial vehicles are used in a relatively single scenario, making it easier to adapt to autonomous driving technology. At the same time, commercial vehicles are less sensitive, and companies are more willing to pay for advanced autonomous driving systems. This also provides a possible way for car companies to promote autonomous driving technology.
It is worth noting that the first domestic commercial vehicle conditional autonomous driving highway road test license has been issued.
Jiqi report: With the cold treatment of L3 autonomous driving by new power car companies (which basically represent the best trend of the domestic auto market), everyone's discussion on the level of intelligent driving has been interrupted for a period of time. Recently, this long-dormant topic has been detonated again, and the incident of BMW Mercedes-Benz and other car companies obtaining L3 road test licenses has attracted a lot of attention.
Compared with the progress of technology, the greater significance of this news is at the level of laws and industry rules, and the development of intelligent driving technology cannot be taken for granted by one or several car companies. Orderly development under the constraints of rules is the greatest protection of the vital interests of consumers. (Text: Xue Wenlong, Editor: Lou Bing).