Photo: Waymo
Back in July, a 157-pages long document was published simultaneously by several carmakers and IT companies around the world, aiming to set the guidelines for the development of safe autonomous passenger vehicles. Alongside Audi, BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen, the Americans were represented by FCA.
At the beginning of this week, FCA published the paper too, and with it an “important note” on its provisions. This note appears to do nothing but negate the carmaker’s involvement in the creation of the work.
The paper is officially titled Safety First for Automated Driving, or SaFAD, and is a "non-binding organized framework for the development, testing and validation of safe automated passenger vehicles.”
All the above-mentioned carmakers contributed something to it, and they were backed by Aptiv, Baidu, Continental, HERE, Infineon, and Intel. So did FCA, only its contribution seems to have been with some reserve.
FCA’s recently released note on the document reads “the Paper does not reflect FCA US’ design specifications or protocols for a specific system that is or could be introduced into the market.”
Moreover, “users have ultimate responsibility to follow traffic laws, stay alert, avoid distractions, drive safely, and always be prepared to take corrective action."
Ironically, FCA is currently the single largest supplier of cars for autonomous testing. In an announcement made last year, FCA said it would supply Waymo 62,000 Chrysler Pacifica minivans for a car-sharing service.
And Waymo has no intention of letting users have the ultimate responsibility to follow traffic laws, as its systems will be fully autonomous.
It’s likely the mid-term future will bring about tons of news about SaFAD. As the first official industry-wide framework in this field, it will be promoted at various technology conferences over the next several months.
If you have enough time, you can read the entire SaFAD document in the PDF section below.
The paper is officially titled Safety First for Automated Driving, or SaFAD, and is a "non-binding organized framework for the development, testing and validation of safe automated passenger vehicles.”
All the above-mentioned carmakers contributed something to it, and they were backed by Aptiv, Baidu, Continental, HERE, Infineon, and Intel. So did FCA, only its contribution seems to have been with some reserve.
FCA’s recently released note on the document reads “the Paper does not reflect FCA US’ design specifications or protocols for a specific system that is or could be introduced into the market.”
Moreover, “users have ultimate responsibility to follow traffic laws, stay alert, avoid distractions, drive safely, and always be prepared to take corrective action."
Ironically, FCA is currently the single largest supplier of cars for autonomous testing. In an announcement made last year, FCA said it would supply Waymo 62,000 Chrysler Pacifica minivans for a car-sharing service.
And Waymo has no intention of letting users have the ultimate responsibility to follow traffic laws, as its systems will be fully autonomous.
It’s likely the mid-term future will bring about tons of news about SaFAD. As the first official industry-wide framework in this field, it will be promoted at various technology conferences over the next several months.
If you have enough time, you can read the entire SaFAD document in the PDF section below.
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