During the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, Gu Huinan, General Manager of GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., discussed the advancements in L3 autonomous driving technology.
Gu mentioned that in the past few years, there was a lot of hype around autonomous driving, but ultimately, it didn't fully materialize. However, after a period of plateau, there's now a resurgence, marking the beginning of a second wave.
Therefore, Gu predicts that 2022 will be a crucial turning point for L3 autonomous driving. Regardless of whether national industrial policies are enacted, the necessary hardware and software technologies to meet the demands of L3 are expected to emerge this year.
It's worth noting that 2026 is forecasted to be the breakout year for L4 autonomous driving.
How do we distinguish between L3 and L4 autonomous driving?
According to the classification standards set by the Society of Automotive Engineers International, L2 and L3 represent pivotal levels of intelligence in vehicle autonomy.
L2 and below emphasize more on assistance features, while L3 and above are capable of executing partial functional decisions under specific conditions.
Currently, from L2 to L4, vehicles can perform certain driving functions under specific circumstances. However, drivers must still be ready to take control of the vehicle. It can be said that L2-L4 still fall within the realm of advanced driving assistance systems and do not achieve fully autonomous driving.
