In class this evening, my teacher said she recently toured an automotive interior supplier (I’ll keep the name private) in the Detroit area. One of the biggest trends that has taken over the automotive world, is autonomous vehicles. Now, there are several levels of autonomy. There’s an article here if you’re interested in reading about the distinctions.

The highest level, level 5, is full autonomy. There have been companies, like Audi, who claim they have reached level 3. The jump to level 5 however, is extreme. But, more often than not, the subject that is barely discussed when gasping over new self-driving cars, is infrastructure. Whether that is direct urban planning, or company wide framework suggestions, itt seems to me, everyone is so excited about this new technology, that important – the most important in my humble opinion – subjects are being left out.

Insert my teacher tonight. She mentioned that during this tour, the supplier commented on how they are working around underground regulations currently in the works. Now, I have no idea what the details of this are, except for one thing: autonomous cars will be required to have cameras facing the occupants. They obviously have an intricate exterior camera system in conjunction with the sensor/lidar programs. But, if the autonomy were to fail, the occupants must be 1) awake 2) paying attention to the road and their surroundings and 3) able to reclaim control of the car in dire circumstances. SO, autonomy might not be all that it’s cracked up to be. At least for now.

We’ve seen a man fall asleep behind an auto-piloted Tesla. Who was then allegedly arrested after the video went viral. Uber’s self-driving car hit and killed a pedestrian who was jay-walking across the street at night during testing in Arizona. There are countless other examples of these unforeseen accidents. In several instances, it wasn’t the driver’s fault. In several cases, it was. So, I can understand how the laws and regulations surrounding autonomy will have a huge part in it’s formation and growth over the years.

With this in-facing camera rule, how does car-buying work? Do you sign a waiver that says you agree to being watched, listened to, and recorded at all times while inside the vehicle? What are privacy legalities for these situations? What if it’s disabled? There are so many questions, and the can of worms hasn’t technically even been opened yet. At least to the public. It’s very interesting to hear about these behind-closed-doors conversations that seem to be plaguing the auto community right now. And unfortunately, only time will tell.