What will change for you from the summer of 2022 in Europe

Different levels of autonomous driving (1 to 5) gradually see their law become more flexible. From the summer of 2022, Level 3 will be allowed under certain conditions.

The promise of a future driving alone is slowly but surely approaching, on the one hand technological advances and on the other hand changes in the law. If level 2 Autonomous driving Has already been approved and in many vehicles (a combination of Adaptive Cruise Control and Active Lane Keeping), has not been able to proceed further to date. However, with the latest amendment, Level 3 will be allowed to be used in Europe in the summer of 2022 under certain conditions. Let’s see together how this will change you.

Hands free driving is possible

Today, under one condition, you can allow yourself to drive with a somewhat autonomous car on the fast lane: do not leave the steering wheel. This is especially the caseTesla Auto Pilot, Cares about managing the speed and direction of the vehicle only if the driver has his hands on the wheel. Although many vehicles today are theoretically capable of doing this without a driver, by law the driver must have a steering wheel.

Tesla Model 3 in Automated Navigation // Source: Bob Joy for Frontroid

On January 14, an amendment to the law governing the levels of driving autonomy was adopted, and it now recognizes Level 3 autonomy under certain conditions. As a reminder, Level 3 of UNECE is defined as:

• The driver is not in control when autonomous systems are involved
• The driver must take control when the computer asks him to
• Autonomous systems can only operate under defined conditions and if all of these conditions are met

Therefore, the first rule that states that the driver does not need to be in control is that the steering wheel can no longer be held, but only in certain circumstances we will see below.

Automated driving level 3: “Yes but”

The law will be amended on July 14, 2022 to allow this Level 3 autonomy to be effective, but within a specific framework to keep in mind. In order to actually drive the vehicle spontaneously, the conditions to be met are:

• The traffic lane should be free of pedestrians and cyclists
• There should be a physical separation between the two directions of traffic (obstacles, central reservation, etc.)
• The maximum speed should be 60 km / h

As you can understand, this level 3 is autonomous, although the increase in the maximum approved speed is already expected, but only more or less for traffic congestion on the highway. From July 14, 2022, it remains to be seen if this will change for vehicles capable of delivering Level 3 autonomy, such as Mercedes or Tesla, or if manufacturers are not yet ready to offer this autonomy to the general public.

Because they are ahead of many manufacturers in terms of autonomous flow, Teslas are sometimes presented as vehicles with more capabilities than they can actually do.
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