It’s hard to tell the difference between assisted driving and autonomous driving. Don’t be fooled by sales.

Nowadays, with the continuous development of automobile intelligent technology, driving assistance systems are nothing new. Almost all cars ranging from million-level to 100,000-level cars are equipped with it.

However, for ordinary consumers, there may be a misunderstanding, that is, driving assistance and autonomous driving are confused. Although they all seem to have the ability to drive autonomously, there are actually huge differences between them, and they can even be divided into two different systems.

In essence, the core of the driving assistance system is environmental perception, and then relies on the set decision-making process to make decisions and finally execute them. Autonomous driving is artificial intelligence, and there is a huge difference in the operating systems of the two.

Although there are currently some models that can achieve L2 level autonomous driving, such as ICC high-speed adaptive cruise and TJA traffic jam assist. From the perspective of functional performance, these two functions can only achieve continuous horizontal and vertical control of the vehicle in some scenarios, giving ordinary consumers an illusion similar to autonomous driving.

However, due to the excessive promotion of assisted driving systems by individual car companies, consumers have gradually blurred the concepts of assisted driving and autonomous driving. There are even cases of over-reliance leading to traffic accidents.

Car owners “show off their skills”

Li Auto’s official Weibo issued a “warning”

A few days ago, a netizen posted a short video on Weibo, in which The passenger in the co-pilot is using video to record the state of Lili ONE under autonomous driving.

It is clearly visible from the video that the main driver of the Ideal ONE has his eyes closed and his hands off the steering wheel. At this time, the vehicle is driving on the highway at a speed of about 80 kilometers per hour, and the vehicles on the road can be seen. Quite a few.

The car owner was so arrogant that he was completely unaware of the possible dangers. Therefore, Li Auto also stood up immediately. Its official Weibo issued a "warning" and reminded that the vehicle assistance system may suddenly exit, because the steering wheel of Li Auto has a grip sensor, which will alarm through visual and auditory signals. The driver is reminded that if the driver does not take over the steering wheel for a period of time, the system will exit and prohibit the use of assisted driving functions during this drive. Therefore, no matter how good the assisted driving function is, it cannot replace the experience of an experienced driver. Friends, please use it correctly.

Of course, similar incidents happen from time to time. Even in August last year, NIO Vice President Shen Fei posted an article on his personal Weibo, personally demonstrating the NIO ES8 driving at 102km/h on the highway. The "dangerous driving" behavior of speeding down the highway without his hands on the steering wheel. Originally wanting to show off NIO's "powerful" assisted driving system, it was criticized by many netizens.

In fact, almost all assisted driving systems currently require human intervention, and will fail if no one takes over within a certain period of time. Because current technology and national laws and regulations do not allow drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel for a long time.

Human intervention is required

What is the significance of assisted driving?

At this stage, the assisted driving system is roughly at the L2 level, that is, the human-led system is an auxiliary stage. At this level, people can hand over the vehicle to the system for driving, such as when using ACC adaptive cruise, but can take over at any time.

Judging from the SAE autonomous driving classification, only L3-L5 can be called autonomous driving. The L2 autonomous driving promoted by car companies can only be regarded as assisted driving. Moreover, the current domestic regulations do not support autonomous driving, which means that no matter whether you are L1 or L5, the driver must have full control of the vehicle. Since you still have to focus on the road, even as much as driving normally, what is the significance of the existence of assisted driving systems?

Currently, car companies are still cautious about L2 autonomous driving systems. Most car companies will inform drivers that the system is recommended for use in two environments: highway conditions and congested road conditions.

It is relatively easy for vehicles to collect surrounding information at high and low speeds. Recognizing road markings and following vehicles does not put much pressure on the camera. In addition, the driving status of the vehicle is limited to high-speed cruising and close-range vehicle following, because L2 level autonomous driving is Without the function of using high-precision maps, the vehicle can only drive forward along the current lane, and these two road conditions do not require the system to plan the route.

The scenarios that can be used in daily driving are very limited, so that the assisted driving system is more of a means of publicity by the manufacturer, and the gimmick is greater than the actual significance. But we cannot completely deny the significance of its existence. After all, this is the only way to achieve true autonomous driving.

L2 level autonomous driving has become popular

So who is at the forefront?

In 2020, it has become more and more popular for major car companies to install L2 autonomous driving systems on mass-produced models. Therefore, a practical problem is before us. Is it a gimmick or does it serve driving life? This is particularly critical for a market that is just emerging.

Of course, with the maturity of the lane keeping system and ACC adaptive cruise system, it is actually not difficult to cross the threshold of this level. The difficult part is sensitivity, ease of operation and consideration of details. Therefore, to determine the quality of an excellent L2 autonomous driving system, one must first understand its hardware configuration - whether the sensing system is conscientious enough, the number and type of cameras and radars, and the second is whether the design is optimized. in place.

Based on the current market situation, new energy vehicle companies represented by Tesla are absolute fans of smart driving. Tesla claims to have reached L2.5 level. Its special feature is A turn signal lever can be used to change lanes based on signal lights.

In addition, models of traditional car companies such as the Audi A8L have reached the L3 level. They have special "black technology" - namely traffic jam cruise. When the user turns on this function during low-speed driving, the vehicle Autonomous driving tasks can be achieved until a driver is notified to take over the vehicle when encountering special circumstances.

As for the L2 level, currently Nissan, BMW, General Motors, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, etc. are relatively mature. Of course, independent brands Changan, Great Wall, and Geely have already reached this level. Among them, Changan Automobile is relatively mature. Let's take Changan Automobile as an example to see what the domestically advanced autonomous driving system looks like.

In fact, Changan Automobile has initiated a project to develop self-driving cars as early as 2009. In 2011, it developed functions such as forward collision warning and lane departure warning; in 2013, it developed functions such as adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking; in 2015, it developed an automatic car with automatic parking, high-speed automatic driving, automatic lane changing and other functions. Driving functions; in 2016, Changan Automobile became the first car company to achieve a 2,000km long-distance autonomous driving test; in 2018, Changan Automobile achieved the first domestic mass production of L2-level IACC integrated adaptive cruise and APA4.0 fully automatic parking ; In 2019, Changan Automobile achieved the industry's first mass production of the APA5.0 fully automatic remote control parking system, enabling one-button remote control for worry-free parking. Up to now, Changan Automobile has mastered more than 200 intelligent core technologies, and more than 70 intelligent functions have been installed on mass-produced models, of which more than 21 are domestic debuts.

Based on all this technical foundation, Changan's L3 autonomous driving technology will be officially launched this year.

According to Malache City, Changan Automobile covers three 360-degree cameras on the vehicle to sense the environment outside the vehicle. The maximum detection distance is greater than 200 meters, and the measurement accuracy can reach 10 centimeters. It also uses 5 millimeters. Wave radar, 6 cameras, and 12 ultrasonic radars are used as the main sensors. Identify various targets and obstacles such as vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists in the vehicle driving environment.

In order to free the driver from eyesight, cameras and sensing instruments will be installed in the car to constantly screen the driver's vision, fatigue and other conditions to protect the autonomous driving system. Finally, by combining the road information of high-precision maps and ADAS maps, road information within a range of up to 8 kilometers can be obtained in real time, achieving lane-level high-precision positioning and precise path planning, which can effectively ensure the accuracy of autonomous driving.

There is also a certain range for being separated from the feet, hands, and eyes for a long time. The maximum supported speed on unstructured roads is 40km/h. On ideal structured roads, L3 level autonomous driving can reach 130km. /h. However, in the case of violation of L3 autonomous driving regulations, if the user still does not take over after being reminded to take over, Changan L3 autonomous driving will implement a risk mitigation strategy and slow down to stop.

Technically, Changan Automobile has taken the lead in achieving L3 level autonomous driving, but for now, it will have to wait until the country officially opens autonomous driving regulations before L3 level vehicles can be officially launched.

Ma said:

It is an indisputable fact that autonomous driving and new energy vehicles are the future development direction of the automobile industry. However, at this stage, both car companies and consumers should To view new things correctly, car companies should not over-promote them, and consumers should not be too superstitious, in order to avoid unnecessary safety hazards. After all, without security, everything is empty talk.

Perhaps it won’t take too long before real autonomous driving will come to us, and this time the leader may be our own brand.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.