Post AXNp5OWGtUfXespA1I by adamjcook@mastodon.social
 (DIR) More posts by adamjcook@mastodon.social
 (DIR) Post #AXNp5McZx4WflrlAZc by adamjcook@mastodon.social
       2023-07-05T11:02:17Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Let's talk about #Mercedes vehicles equipped with #DrivePilot a bit - a Level 3-capable vehicle that has been recently "approved" in a handful of US states.This article almost entirely focuses on the legal dynamics of consumer liability should this vehicle create a direct (or, presumably, an indirect) incident.But, as always, I want to talk about what I feel are the #SystemsSafety realities at work here and the many foot-guns that are associated with that.#carshttps://www.autonews.com/mobility-report/mercedes-drive-pilot-automated-system-poses-legal-questions🧵👇
       
 (DIR) Post #AXNp5OWGtUfXespA1I by adamjcook@mastodon.social
       2023-07-05T11:02:38Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       What is a Level 3-capable vehicle?Put simply, per the #SAE #J3016 standard (which is not safety standard), this is a vehicle that is capable (by definition, not necessarily practically) of detecting a certain amount of failures to the Dynamic Driving Task (DDT) within a certain Operational Design Domain (ODD).With some exceptions, the human driver can (theoretically) remain inattentive to the performance of the DDT until the automated system demands that they regain operational control.
       
 (DIR) Post #AXNp5QMm1mGBO0ObUe by adamjcook@mastodon.social
       2023-07-05T11:03:22Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Distilled from that verbose definition, the image below is how #Mercedes describes the capabilities of their vehicle.On paper, a strict "vehicle control responsibility" separation **seemingly** exists.The Mercedes vehicle drives until "it can't" and then, after a sufficient warning time provided by the vehicle, the human driver regains situational awareness and operational control of the vehicle.Simple enough, right? 🤔
       
 (DIR) Post #AXNp5S9jNF10w8JDRQ by adamjcook@mastodon.social
       2023-07-05T11:04:35Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Well...Humans are not machines and human drivers are not homogeneous and it is entirely unclear how long of the duration of this "warning time" needs to be in an infinite number of conditions.That is what is called #HumanFactors considerations, in part.But let us put the "human element" out-of-mind here.I submit it is not necessary here.Let's get back to the article - and, in particular, a statement by one of the legal experts cited within it:
       
 (DIR) Post #AXNp5Tx2hO3QVMO6wS by adamjcook@mastodon.social
       2023-07-05T11:05:02Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       The legal expert cited, Professor William Widen and Professor Phil Koopman have offered their thoughts on attributing liability (between the vehicle and the human driver), as linked to in the article.That work is here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4444854It is a sensible proposal and Professor Koopman is one of the foremost experts in #SafetyCritical systems, #robotics and #AutomatedDriving systems.Still, I submit that no proposal can quantifiably protect consumers with this type of system.Why?
       
 (DIR) Post #AXNp5VgoEiG1taoAuu by adamjcook@mastodon.social
       2023-07-05T11:05:49Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       The core issue, again put simply, is that law enforcement is structurally ill-equipped to take full, immediate control of the vehicle and secure its (physical **and** digital) chain-of-custody when an incident occurs with these vehicles.That is it.What will **instead** happen is that law enforcement, courts, regulators and insurance companies will be at the complete mercy of #Mercedes (in this case) in terms of vehicle data and, most probably, an interpretation of the events!
       
 (DIR) Post #AXNp5Xe2xxEhxbWztA by adamjcook@mastodon.social
       2023-07-05T11:06:46Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Now, you, as the human driver are also effectively at the mercy of #Mercedes!The laws on the books do not matter.And the considerable "friction" of pursuing an open-ended legal claim against Mercedes' data advantages will always work against you.The #NTSB, the US's independent transportation safety investigator, foresaw this asymmetric data relationship as far back as 2016 - and, naturally, the US's hapless auto safety regulator, the #NHTSA, simply ignored it.https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a19785733/teslantsb-feud-shows-complications-of-crash-investigations-involving-autonomous-systems/
       
 (DIR) Post #AXNp5ZY5t3f9rilGt6 by adamjcook@mastodon.social
       2023-07-05T11:07:46Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       All of this means that the "warning time", no matter what anyone or any law says, is **actually** 0 seconds.And consumers should recognize this because consumers are (and will increasingly be) being covertly and dangerously misled.Level 3-capable vehicles **cannot** have a clear delineation of human driver liability if governments cannot commit to maintaining a chain-of-custody and an independent, forensic investigation of all incidents.And, spoiler, governments will not commit to that.