Hyundai has come up with a genius way to prove the capability of its latest autonomous-car technology by putting it through a learner driver’s licence test in the US.
In a world-first, an autonomous car has been subjected to an assessment by a veteran driving instructor who has a reputation for being a hard marker.
While road safety authorities in the US are reviewing the rollout of autonomous testing programs following a number of embarrassing gaffes, unintended traffic jams, and even a handful of crashes, Hyundai has doubled down on hands-free driving.
Only a small number of jurisdictions in the US permit testing of autonomous cars on public roads – alongside real traffic mixing with motorists from the general public.
Autonomous car technology is still at least a decade or so away before it becomes 100 per cent reliable in a complete range of scenarios – despite initial projections by some of the world’s biggest brands (including Ford) it would be widely available by 2020.
A study by the American Automobile Association (AAA) found 73 per cent of Americans surveyed don’t trust autonomous cars.
Perhaps to put minds at ease – and address a potential backlash from the public – Hyundai came up with the genius idea of submitting one of its autonomous test vehicles to a real life licence test.
Hyundai says autonomous cars would be especially helpful for elderly people who are too old to drive, or people who are living with a disability such as vision impairment that currently prevents them from getting behind the wheel.
Spoiler alert. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric car – fitted with radars, cameras and other sensors to process gigabytes of data as it blends with traffic – passed the simulated test (to mirror the requirements of a real assessment) with flying colours.
Hyundai enlisted the help of a hard marker who said she fails 15 of the 18 drivers she tests on any given day.
“I’m a DMV Certified Driving Examiner with 25 years of experience. In that time, I’ve failed thousands and thousands of students in the interest of public safety,” Kandice Jones, the examiner who tested the autonomous Ioniq 5, says in the video ahead of the test.
“If I take about 18 (drivers) a day, three would pass.
“(For the Hyundai autonomous car test) it’s going to be the same criteria – just like testing a human.
“We’ll be monitoring the speed, lane changes. I’m going to grade manouvres, making a complete stop, left turns, maintaining the lane, and of course reaction time.”
When the tester was asked if the autonomous car would pass the test, Ms Jones said: “I have my doubts.”
In the driving test, the autonomous vehicle was monitored for its speed control, lane changes, ability to accurately stop at a stop sign, perform left turns, and how it reacts to sudden hazards such as a pedestrian on the road.
So, after 800,000 miles (more than 1.2 million kilometres) of real-world testing in the US, how did the assessment turn out?
“Surprisingly it was a perfect score,” the examiner says. “I’m impressed.”
Click on the link below to watch the video here:
