Self-driving taxis can not be equipped with safety officers, and the Ministry of Transport issued a document to clarify the commercial requirements for autonomous driving
The commercialization of autonomous driving will also accelerate.
作者 | Janson
Edit | Juice
The standards for the commercial operation of autonomous driving are becoming clearer.
Chexi reported on December 5 that today, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued the "Guidelines for Transportation Safety Services for Autonomous Vehicles (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines") to regulate the commercial operation of autonomous vehicles on mainland roads.
▲Guidelines for Transportation Safety Services for Autonomous Vehicles (Trial)
This means that on the basis of the access specifications for L3/L4 autonomous driving issued by four departments, including the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Transport has put forward specific requirements for the commercial passenger and freight landing of autonomous driving at the national ministry level.
The Guidelines point out that all those who use autonomous vehicles to engage in urban bus and tram passenger transport, taxi passenger transport, road passenger transport and road cargo transport business activities on urban roads, highways and other roads where social motor vehicles are passed by social motor vehicles shall comply with these Guidelines.
For the first time, the guidelines clarify the scope of application of autonomous driving and the information that should be clearly recorded in the event of an accident.
At the same time, the Guidelines further clarify the rules for the deployment of RoboTaxi vehicle safety officers, allowing enterprises to appoint remote safety officers in approved situations, with a ratio of not less than 1:3.
This means that in China, it is one step closer to the commercial landing of autonomous driving.
Welfare of this article: The commercialization of autonomous driving has also begun to have policies to follow. Dialog box reply [Che Dongxi 0564] to obtain the complete document of the "Autonomous Vehicle Transportation Safety Service Guide (Trial)".
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01.
It can be used in passenger transport and the scope of application is clear
The Guidelines provide detailed regulations on the application of autonomous vehicles according to different scenarios.
In terms of the objects of use, the autonomous vehicles mentioned in the Guidelines refer to vehicles that can achieve all dynamic driving tasks under the design and operation conditions under the premise of complying with the relevant standards of the mainland, and have been included in the product access category by the industry and information technology departments. This includes conditionally autonomous vehicles, highly autonomous vehicles, and fully autonomous vehicles determined according to the national standard "Classification of Automobile Driving Automation" (GB/T40429-2021).
In terms of application scope, it means that autonomous vehicles can be engaged in taxi passenger transport business activities in scenarios where traffic conditions are good, safe and controllable. Urban bus and tram passenger transportation can be carried out in physically closed, relatively closed or simple fixed routes, and traffic safety and controllable scenarios. The road cargo transportation business activities can be carried out in scenarios such as point-to-point trunk road transportation or urban roads with safe and controllable traffic.
▲RoboTaxi in action
At the same time, the guidelines point out that in order to ensure the healthy development of the autonomous vehicle industry, the guidelines require enterprises engaged in relevant business activities to register as market entities in accordance with the law and take out carrier liability insurance.
In addition, autonomous vehicles are required to comply with road transport regulations during operation and have the appropriate operating licenses.
At the same time, the access and application of autonomous driving is not static.
In the course of autonomous vehicle operation, if technical problems, defects or hidden dangers are discovered, autonomous transportation operators are required to report them to the relevant authorities in accordance with regulations. The competent authorities will promote the rapid investigation and rectification of automobile manufacturers to eliminate potential safety hazards and ensure production safety.
02.
There is no safety officer on the bus, and the accident is recorded for at least 90 seconds
For the first time, the Guidelines specify detailed rules for the safety of vehicles that can be omitted from the vehicle in the event of approval.
In this regard, the Guidelines point out that autonomous vehicles need to be equipped with drivers or operational safety personnel, and different levels of autonomous vehicles, such as unconditional autonomous driving, conditional autonomous driving and highly automated driving, all need to be equipped with safety officers.
However, on the premise of ensuring safety, fully autonomous vehicles engaged in taxi passenger transportation may use remote safety officers when operating in designated areas with the consent of the people's government of a city divided into districts, and the ratio of remote safety officers to vehicles shall not be less than 1:3.
▲The safety officer does not accompany the car (schematic diagram)
In addition, in the management of autonomous vehicle operating status information, operators should ensure that the vehicle is in good technical condition and that it is operated in accordance with the vehicle instruction manual.
At the same time, in order to ensure the safe operation of autonomous vehicles, the vehicle shell must be clearly informative of the autonomous driving characteristics of the vehicles of other road users with prominent patterns, texts, or colors.
Enterprises that use autonomous vehicles to provide services such as urban public transportation, taxi passenger transportation, and road passenger transportation should provide passengers with detailed information about the vehicle's autonomous driving functions, precautions for safe riding, how to use safety facilities, and how to escape in an emergency by playing promotional videos or posting signs, so that passengers can fully understand and ensure their own safety.
It is worth noting that the Guidelines require autonomous vehicles engaged in road transport to have the function of recording, storing and transmitting vehicle operating status information in real time, and transmitting key operating status information to autonomous transportation operators and relevant departments in real time.
In the event of an accident or failure of the autonomous driving function, the system should automatically record and store at least 90 seconds of pre-incident operating status information.
The operating status information includes but is not limited to the following 10 items: vehicle identification (such as frame number or vehicle number plate information, etc.), vehicle control mode, vehicle location, vehicle speed, acceleration, driving direction and other motion states, environmental perception and response status, real-time status of vehicle lights and signals, 360-degree video monitoring outside the vehicle, in-vehicle video and voice monitoring reflecting the driver-human-computer interaction status, remote control instructions received by the vehicle (if any) and vehicle fault conditions (if any).
03.
Conclusion: The commercial use of autonomous driving is getting closer and closer
In recent years, with the rapid development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G communication, and big data, the application of autonomous driving technology in the field of transportation has gradually accelerated, from closed site testing to road testing, and from pilot demonstration to commercial trial operation. Cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen have issued policies to allow commercial trial operation of autonomous vehicles in specific areas and at specific times, involving urban buses, trolleys, taxis, logistics and distribution, and the scale of application is expanding.
The "National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline" clearly states that by 2035, the mainland's autonomous driving technology will reach the world's advanced level, and the "Outline for the Construction of a Transportation Power" will "strengthen the research and development of autonomous driving technology and form an independent, controllable and complete industrial chain" as an important part of the construction of a transportation power.
However, at present, the basic requirements for using autonomous vehicles for transportation operations are not clear, and they cannot adapt to the healthy and orderly development of autonomous vehicles, and the safety pressure is increasing.
To this end, on the basis of systematically combing the pilot demonstration operation of autonomous vehicles in some cities and local management policies, the mainland department focuses on core elements such as application scenarios, autonomous driving transportation operators, transportation vehicles, staffing, safety assurance, supervision and management, etc., clarifies the basic requirements for the use of autonomous vehicles to engage in transportation business activities under the framework of current laws and regulations, guides the healthy and orderly development of autonomous transportation services, prevents and resolves transportation safety risks to the greatest extent, and effectively protects the safety of people's lives and property.
With the issuance of the Guidelines, the pace of commercial application of autonomous vehicles in mainland China is accelerating, and the standardization and safety management of on-road operations have been further strengthened.
At the same time, it also means that we are getting closer to the time when autonomous vehicles will play a greater role in daily transportation, and we expect this technology to bring more convenient travel experiences to society while ensuring traffic safety and improving transportation efficiency.