Picture by Roberto Nickson
Technological progress aims to improve our everyday lives by helping us in our daily tasks and chores. Every invention is meant to help us make the world a better and safer place — from the invention of light bulbs to the creation of a $400 smoothie-making machine (yes, even though the latter did not meet the success its creators expected). However, most of these newly found concepts have to be authorized and adhere to standards and norms. Now, to what extent can regulations harm technological progress — and possibly keep us from a life-changing technological revolution? This article offers a deeper insight into this question by using the example of Tesla's autonomous cars in Europe. For those of you who still do not know what Tesla Motors is, I recommend having a look at Florent Montoya's article entitled "Why should people think about a Tesla for their next car?" dated September 25, 2016 (see bibliography below).
Tesla is well known for its autonomous cars that have been used in North America since 2015. Every Tesla model is equipped to be fully autonomous and driverless yet these vehicles are not allowed in Europe so far. When wanting to enter a new market such as the EU's, a company has to pay attention to several levels of regulation — the international, the interregional, and the regional or national one.
At the international level
In June 2020, UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) promulgated new regulations for autonomous cars that will come into effect in 2021. These new regulations will apply to European countries, Canada, Central Asia, and Western Asia (53 countries in total). All autonomous-car makers will have to comply with them and satisfy the following requirements: autonomous cars can activate automated lane-keeping systems (ALKS) if their speed is under 60 kilometers per hour on roads without pedestrians or cyclists and if opposite lanes are separated. Furthermore, all onboard screens must have restricted use and black boxes checking a driver's presence and awareness are mandatory.
In the EU
The principle of the EU is the free movement of goods and persons within the EU, which means that a car sold in an EU country has to be suitable for the roads of all EU countries as the vehicle owner might cross borders without being checked. This implies that all EU states have to align their road programs and systems, which represents massive national investments. The EU has to change and adapt its liability laws to clarify who is accountable for any car accident involving an autonomous car. The last barrier would be the EU's strict regulation on data: each autonomous car manufacturer will have to ensure protection against cyber attacks since autonomous cars are wired to the internet — either through Wi-Fi or 5G. It is also important to note that the autonomous car market is very competitive among companies but also among countries — each country wants to be the first to adapt to autonomous cars to prove its advancement and modernity.
How can a company cope with these regulations?
Tesla has had to adapt its products to these regulations. Not only did it add all the equipment needed to satisfy every requirement but it also had to offer a product that could adapt to new regulations to come. Considering how expensive a Tesla is, it would be harmful to the company to not be able to sell autonomous cars at all even though European regulations do not allow them for now. Tesla had to create and implement a specific chip on its vehicles that the buyer could tick as an option and that allows the electric car to turn into a fully autonomous vehicle as soon as EU regulations permit it.
Conclusion
Regulation is meant to protect us but it sometimes harms us by inhibiting technological progress. Companies can adapt their products but it is most of the time detrimental to the consumer as it often raises the price of the goods. Sometimes, however, companies cannot afford alternative offers because they require too much research for too little profit or because they lack funding in the first place. Regulations are therefore keeping us from technological progress but we have to remember it is for the greater good — just like our parents would keep us from eating too many sweets even though it made us happy.
Shanna M.
Bibliography
Montoya, F. (25/09/2016). "Why should people think about a Tesla for their next car?", Naturally Great Traders, published on September 25, 2016 [Online] (accessed on 20/10/2020)
Legislative Observatory, European Parliament. (2019). Autonomous driving in European transport [Online], last update on January 15, 2019 (accessed on 23/09/2020)
European Parliament. (2019). Self-driving cars in the EU: from science fiction to reality [Online] (accessed on 23/09/2020)
Autovista Group. (2019). The state of autonomous legislation in Europe [Online] (accessed on 25/09/2020)
Government of The Netherlands. (2017). Driverless cars on the road [Online] (accessed on 23/09/2020)
Tesla. (2020). Légal [Online] (accessed on 22/09/2020)
Connected Automated driving. (2009). The Netherlands: Leaders in the European autonomous car market [Online] (accessed on 25/10/2020)
Langard, V. 52019). "Une Tesla 100% autonome en 2020?", TopGear Magazine [Online] (accessed on 25/09/2020)
Le Figaro with AFP. (2020). Voitures autonomes: norme contraignante adoptée à l'ONU [Online] (accessed on 25/09/2020)
Hello Shanna,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your article, I find the topic really interesting. The way you deal with it makes it understandable (even for people who doesn't know a word about cars).
It's good to know that there is regulation on that kind of product. In my opinion, autonomous cars can be very dangerous even though there are regulated. I also think that those cars are far from being allowed in the EU because as you said, every country must be able to welcome them. As it still exists strong inequalities between countries, don't you think Tesla's cars will probably never been allowed in the EU ? Do you know what are Tesla's plan to sell its cars ? I'm a bit skeptical about the chip you mentioned, it seems costly..
Anyway, it was pleasant to read your article, I learnt a lot of things. Thank you again !
Hello Emma,
DeleteThank you for your comment. I understand the fear of autonomous cars, as we cannot be certain of what AI might decide in worst case scenarios. On this topic, you can have a look at MIT's "Moral Machine" (https://www.moralmachine.net/) which gathers information about ethical decision-making for driverless cars.
As of driverless cars... they are already allowed in the EU. Large-scale tests of level 5 autonomous cars (aka 100% autonomous) are taking place in several countries (including the Netherlands) and level 3 autonomy are already on the market and can be activated. This is under certain conditions (e.g. the presence and awareness of a driver) but it is nonetheless allowed.
The chip is indeed costly (around $5,000) but it is only a small percentage of a Tesla – the cheapest model starts at $50,000. Furthermore, such a chip is so difficult to design and fully autonomous car softwares imply so much research that this sum does not surprise me and I think it is worth the cost. Of course, not everyone can afford this chip but not everyone can afford a Tesla either.
Thank you again for your comment and your questions.