May
15
Fully driverless cars on European roads “seems unlikely” anytime soon, according to top motoring manufacturer Renault.
The French car firm claimed that autonomous petrol, diesel or electric vehicles were not on the horizon due to current driving laws.
They warned that customer opinions and the price of driverless vehicle technology could also be preventing the tools from going mainstream inside private cars.
Renault said: “For the individual vehicles, Renault Group already offers top-level driving assistance on most of its models, providing comfort and safety.
“Further automation of some functions, with the aim of achieving complete vehicle autonomy, seems unlikely for the time being, given current regulations, customer expectations and the cost of the complex technology involved.”
Renault said there is an international consensus around the six levels of autonomous driving. This ranges from level L0 with no assistance to L5 which is completely driverless motoring.
The French firm accepted they will concentrate their private car focus on L2 with top-of-the-range driving assistance technology making cars safer.
This includes tools such as cruise control and lane keeping but does not take vehicles out of owners’ hands. They warned there is a “significant technological complexity gap between level L2 automation and level L3 autonomy”.
The next phase involves vehicles operating with “limited driver supervision” which would lead to increased costs which would be passed onto road users.
However, they have suggested they are working on technology in the background which will be applied to public transport solutions.
Similar solutions could then be applied to private vehicles if autonomous driving rules ease in the future.
They explained: “At this stage, the induced cost to be borne by customers, in relation to the driving benefits, would make demand insufficient or even anecdotal.
“At the same time, the Group is making sure that the architecture of its vehicles can evolve towards the autonomous car if expectations, regulations, or the cost of technologies make this breakthrough feasible.”
Renault has been conducting trials for “several years” and is involved in the ‘Mach 2 project’.
This will be a fleet of automated electric minibuses integrated into the public transportation network of Chateauroux Metropole from 2026.
Robotised electric miniBus vehicles may be able to operate 24/7 and will be a complete zero-emission alternative for cities.
Gilles Le Borgne, CTO Renault Group explained: “Renault Group is moving forward to implement its autonomous vehicle strategy.
“As a result, thanks to our experiments and our partners, the best in their fields, we will be in a position, well before the end of this decade, to propose a highly relevant range of autonomous, low-carbon miniBuses to meet the growing needs of the regions.”