海角大神

Drive on a Nevada highway, and you might see something you've never seen before outside of the movies: A giant robot truck.

At a ceremony at the Hoover Dam on Tuesday, Nevada governor聽Brian Sandoval granted a license to Daimler's聽Freightliner Inspiration big rig truck, officially making it, in Daimler's words, "the first licensed autonomous driving truck in the US"

Unlike, say, Optimus Prime, this truck is not entirely autonomous. Instead, Daimler calls it "collaborative vehicle system," in which a licensed truck driver plays a key role.聽

Here's how it works, according to a Daimler press release:

The truck won't pass or change lanes on its own, and the driver will need to take control upon leaving the highway. Additionally, if the truck's software encounters something it cannot handle, such as bad weather or road construction, it will alert the driver to take the wheel.

"The autonomous vehicle technology we are showcasing in the Freightliner Inspiration Truck will help reduce accidents, improve fuel consumption, cut highway congestion, and safeguard the environment," said Daimler's聽Wolfgang Bernhard, who took the truck's first drive, with Gov.聽Sandoval in the passenger seat.

According to a 2014 report from the RAND Corporation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests five gradations of vehicle autonomy:聽

Daimler classifies its new big rig as a Level 3 autonomous vehicle: If something goes wrong, there is a human driver to fall back on.

There are some Level 2 or Level 3 vehicles on the market already. Mercedes-Benz聽and聽Infiniti聽already include lane-keeping features. Tesla is planning for next year鈥檚 Model S sedan to be able to聽take over some highway driving, and聽Cadillac will introduce a similar 鈥淪uper Cruise鈥澛爁eature, according to聽published reports.聽Subaru聽and聽Volvo聽both have automated collision warning features.

But how much safety does the human element add? Most experts agree that humans tend to overrate their ability to drive safely. One notable study 1980 found that 88 percent of US drivers rated themselves as safer-than-average, compared with 77 percent of Swedes.

鈥淚t鈥檚 always the other person who鈥檚 the bad driver,鈥� says C. Gregory Russell who鈥檚 been an accident investigator for the聽Trident Engineering聽of Annapolis, Maryland, for 25 years, in an interview. 鈥淭rust me, I鈥檝e seen people do some really screwy things and manage to wreck things and do stuff that you wouldn鈥檛 believe they could do.鈥�

"It just seems to be human nature,鈥� he says.

John Ulczycki, vice president of the National Safety Council in Itasca, Illinois, seems to share Mr. Russell's disenchantment with people's driving skills. He has ridden in a (Level 4) Google car, and says 聽in an interview, 鈥渋t is by far the safest driver I have ever ridden with.鈥�

鈥淣inety percent of the crashes today are caused by human error,鈥� Mr. Ulczycki says. 鈥淣inety percent of crashes taking place are caused by humans making mistakes."

According to the聽Centers for Disease Control, 33,804 people died in聽motor vehicle crashes in the United States last year.

鈥淚 would trust that equipment [in driverless cars] more than I trust humans because I see how humans drive every day,鈥� Ulczycki adds. 鈥淲e know how humans drive and cars that are all driving in a safe manner and have a level of predictability of how the other vehicles are going to behave will result in much safer roadways and probably more efficient roadways.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檒l probably get where we鈥檙e going more efficiently, more safely, because the human component that causes much of the disruption on our streets and freeways will be decreased, diminished and disappear entirely.鈥�

Russell agrees that a move to fully-automated driving roadway systems 鈥渨ill be for the better until somebody has one accident where a system has failed and then everybody will be marching around saying 鈥榣ook how horrible these are, look how unsafe they are.鈥� They鈥檒l look at the one, versus how many that would save.鈥�