It’s going to be a while longer before everyone gets on board with the whole self-driving idea. Just look at the recent headlines surrounding Tesla’s Autopilot test. People will need time to adjust to the concept of being driven around by their cars on public roads.

According to tech companies and automakers, there will be another stage between the current situation of the road traffic and the fully autonomous (level 4) vehicles.

Before self-driving cars will be capable of roaming around with no human intervention, they will still need a relatively alert human occupant behind the wheel, ready to take control of the vehicle if necessary.

It’s not just automakers behind the push for self-driving vehicles. Not only in the US but elsewhere, governments are also excited by the technology’s potential of significantly curbing the annual death toll caused by car accidents.

According to a Reuters report, Germany’s transport ministry wants to help drivers of self-driving cars to ease up a bit while they’re being transported from point A to point B. To do that, he proposed the cars to be equipped with the vehicle version of a plane’s black box.

In other words, the ‘drivers’ – who will still be required to sit behind the controls – will be more relaxed knowing that the car has on-board data recorders that keep an eye on its autonomous behavior.

More than any other automaker out there, Tesla has shown that the proposal is possible. The company’s electric vehicles are in continuous communication with Tesla’s servers.

Most importantly, the carmaker has shown it’s not afraid to check data logs after a crash to see exactly the state of the car at the time and what caused the crash.

The most recent kerfuffle has shown that Tesla did not involve Autopilot at all in a recent incident with its self-driving technology, causing a collective gasp in the media.

Other automakers are working on improving their semi-autonomous driving modes. At the moment, any Volvo, Tesla, or Audi (level 2 cars) has only one way of knowing if you’re an alert passenger: by monitoring if you’re holding the steering wheel or not.

It’s possible, however, that the next Audi A8 will also feature a camera that will check to see if the driver is capable of taking control in case of an emergency.
Image Source: Fortune