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Text | Li Gen from the Deputy Driving Temple
Source: Smart Car Reference
Suddenly, like a spring breeze overnight, China’s autonomous driving business ushered in the strongest assists.
On August 8, the Ministry of Communications issued a draft of the “Guidelines for Transportation Safety Services for Autonomous Vehicles (Trial)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Guidelines”), which for the first time provided directional regulations and instructions for the commercial implementation of autonomous driving.
This is the first time that China has made clear guidelines for the commercial use of autonomous vehicles, and it is also the first shot in the real world.
In the guide, all aspects of the commercial use of autonomous driving have been considered—
Who can land? Where does it land? What can and cannot be done? How is safety guaranteed? What if something goes wrong?
In short, the direction and overall situation are considered, which not only encourages the rapid development of innovative things, but also puts safety in the first place.
And with the release of the guidelines, it also means that China’s autonomous driving will be commercialized, and there are laws and regulations to follow – comparable to traffic lights.
And interestingly, just after the guidelines were made public, U.S. legislators were in a hurry.
What did the guide say?
Overall, it can be viewed from three dimensions.
First, who can commercialize it?
Second, where can it be commercialized? What can be done? Can’t do?
Third, how to ensure safety? How to deal with the problem?
01 Who can commercialize it?
Any vehicle with self-driving capability will do.
Yes, the guidelines clearly state that it applies to conditionally self-driving cars, highly self-driving cars and fully self-driving cars.
The guide is not entangled in the debate between L2, L3, L4, L5 and other forms and names, and defines the automatic driving capability with conditions, height and completeness, and the entry threshold is relaxed to the greatest extent.
In a word, anyone with automatic driving ability can land.
The restriction is to engage in urban bus (electric) car passenger transport, taxi passenger transport, road general cargo transport, and road passenger transport business activities.
To put it bluntly, you have to use self-driving cars to carry people or deliver goods, and it can be a bus or a taxi.
02 What can be done? Can’t do?
The regulations on the scope of landing are on roads (including expressways), urban roads and other types of roads used for the passage of social vehicles.
However, there are different landing guidelines for specific roads and road conditions:
Encourage the development of self-driving buses in closed system scenarios.
Encourage the development of Robotaxi in scenarios with simple road conditions and relatively controllable conditions.
Encourage the development of self-driving freight on point-to-point arterial roads and relatively closed roads.
Prudent use of autonomous driving for road passenger transport.
The use of autonomous vehicles to transport dangerous goods is prohibited.
The above-mentioned details have not been expanded, but the general direction that can be perceived is relatively clear:
Encourage autonomous driving to serve daily production. Whether it is bus, taxi or trunk logistics.
It is also worth noting that the “closed bus rapid transit system” in self-driving buses has not been developed, but considering the context, it may not only include modes such as BRT, but also a generalization of bus trips with fixed route routes.
In addition, combined with the actual implementation of self-driving bus travel in various places, it is also a closed loop of the bus system, rather than a closed loop in road conditions and scenes.
And combined with the prudent development of self-driving road passenger transportation, it can also be seen that the main distinction between road conditions is long-distance and high-speed.
03 How to ensure safety? What should I do if there is an accident?
In terms of safety and security, specific requirements are put forward in terms of units, vehicles, people and processes.
The unit, the operating entity of the landing service. Registered in accordance with the law, in line with the corresponding business scope and business.
Those engaged in taxi passenger transportation, general freight transportation and road passenger transportation need to have corresponding license qualifications.
It must also meet the relevant operating qualification requirements of the region.
Vehicles, self-driving vehicles that provide services.
You must have a license plate, go through motor vehicle registration in accordance with the law, and obtain a motor vehicle license plate and a motor vehicle driving license.
To have certificates, self-driving cars engaged in taxi passenger transportation, road general cargo transportation, and road passenger transportation should also obtain the corresponding “Online Booking Taxi Transportation Certificate” or “Road Transportation Certificate” in accordance with the law.
Qualifications are also required, and autonomous vehicles engaged in urban bus (electric) passenger transportation should also meet the relevant operational qualification requirements of the state and local city people’s governments.
Plus, insurance is standard.
Auto insurance, self-driving cars engaged in transportation business shall be insured with compulsory motor vehicle traffic accident liability insurance, safety production liability insurance and motor vehicle third party liability insurance with an insurance amount of not less than 5 million yuan.
PICC, self-driving cars engaged in road passenger transportation and online booking of taxis for passenger transportation shall also insure carrier liability insurance in accordance with relevant state regulations.
Third, the requirements for people.
driver. Conditionally autonomous and highly autonomous vehicles engaged in transportation operations shall be equipped with drivers.
Cloud driver or security officer. Fully autonomous vehicles engaged in transportation operations should be equipped with remote drivers or safety officers.
The above-mentioned personnel must go through relevant assessment tests, master the instructions for using automatic driving, be familiar with the operation and route, and have the ability to take over and deal with emergencies.
Finally, the guidelines also make security guarantees from the process mechanism.
For example, the landing route and plan should make it clear that the autonomous vehicle operation route should be kept away from schools, hospitals, large supermarkets and other crowded places.
And in bad weather such as rain, snow, freezing, etc., the use of self-driving vehicles for transportation business activities should be stopped according to regulations.
In addition, there is a need for real-time monitoring and management of autonomous vehicles.
On the one hand, it monitors and manages vehicle operating areas, operating routes, and operating conditions, and promptly reminds to correct and deal with violations of laws and regulations.
On the other hand, autonomous vehicles engaged in transportation operations shall have the functions of recording, storing and transmitting vehicle operation status, and transmit relevant information to transportation operators and local transportation authorities in a timely manner
And in the event of an accident in the vehicle or the failure of the automatic driving function, the operating status information from at least 90 seconds before the accident to at least 30 seconds after the accident is automatically recorded and stored.
The operating status information includes at least: basic vehicle information, control mode changes, received remote control commands, operating status, human-computer interaction, and images inside and outside the vehicle.
In addition, the overall process also needs to have an emergency mechanism, regular drills, and proactive reporting of problems.
And if there are any of the following problems, they will face interviews and rectification:
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1. Failure to provide drivers for autonomous vehicles as required;
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2. Failure to dynamically monitor autonomous vehicles in accordance with regulations;
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3. Failure to record, store and transmit the operating status information of autonomous vehicles as required, and provide false vehicle operating status information;
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4. A production safety liability accident occurs;
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5. There are other risks affecting the operational safety of autonomous vehicles.
Finally, if an accident occurs, it is necessary to do a good job in on-site disposal or emergency disposal of the accident, and report the accident situation to the transportation, public security, emergency management and other departments of the place where the accident occurred.
Afterwards, it cooperated with the relevant vehicle recall and rectification work to eliminate potential safety hazards in a timely manner and continuously improve the safety performance of autonomous vehicles.
Influence: domestic encouragement, foreign anxiety
There is no doubt that the meaning and value behind the “Autonomous Vehicle Transportation Safety Service Guide (Trial)” are self-evident.
This is also the first directional guidance document for the commercial implementation of autonomous driving in China, which points out the direction for the commercial implementation of autonomous driving.
Prior to this, my country has actually issued a series of policies to support and promote the development of autonomous driving technology, and local governments have also continued to guide the implementation of autonomous driving through policies and regulations.
For example, the Shenzhen Smart Car Act, which was officially implemented on August 1, clearly stipulated the rights and responsibilities.
At the time of the announcement of the Ministry of Transport’s guideline, Wuhan and Chongqing both released pilot policies for the commercialization of autonomous driving and fully unmanned vehicles, allowing autonomous vehicles without a safety officer in the vehicle to carry out commercial services on social roads.
For a time, there was a scene of cooking oil with fire and flowers blooming like brocade.
And it can be expected that the release of the guidelines is just the beginning, which will lead to the release of more specific rules and relevant policies in more places, and the continuous improvement of the closed-loop system of China’s autonomous driving from technology to implementation to commercial use will greatly promote China’s autonomous driving. development, and further clarified that China’s autonomous driving has begun to take shape in the world.
Of course, the other side of the Pacific is also paying close attention to this kind of Chinese speed.
Immediately after the introduction of this guideline for the commercial use of autonomous driving in China, two members of the US House of Representatives immediately launched a bipartisan joint action, hoping to once again promote national legislation on autonomous driving/fully unmanned driving.
We must update the clichés and dismantle the 50-state fragmentation to ensure America’s global lead in the self-driving race.
(Disclaimer: This article only represents the author’s point of view and does not represent the position of Sina.com.)
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