Transportation

Everyone Wants a Level 5 Self-Driving Car—Here's What That Means

As cars that drive themselves evolve and spread over the coming years, here's a guide for understanding what's left for you to do.

It's been a hot summer of self-driving car news. Ford announced it's skipping over Level 3 and will put a fleet of Level 4 autonomous vehicles on the road in 2021. Mobileye and Delphi promised Level 4/5 self-drivers by 2019. Tesla's talking about improving its Level 2 cars. Sounds exciting---if you have any idea what those numbers mean. Even when they're using words, automakers obfuscate what their cars can do. Also floating in this stew of jargon are terms like autonomous, self-driving, semi-autonomous, and self-piloting.

Those driving levels come from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and SAE (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers), which each have their own system. They're nearly identical, but in the name of internationalism, we'll use SAE's. So, as cars that drive themselves evolve and spread over the coming years, here's a guide for understanding what's left for you to do.

  • You do all the work.

    This one is easy: You do the driving, Human.

    Model T Ford
    Three Lions/Getty Images

  • Helping out.

    SAE calls Level 1 "driver assistance," and even that feels generous. This is a car that helps out by doing a single task. Usually, that means cruise control, where the car holds whatever speed you command. No turning, no staying in its lane, no hitting the brakes before plowing into the stopped semi up ahead.

    Getty Images

  • How Tesla's Self-Driving Autopilot Actually Works

    Exploring everything from the radars and camera to the Mario Kart easter egg, our roadtrip shows Tesla’s autopilot works well—but it's no self-driving wunderkind.

  • Taking control.

    No one's put a Level 3 car on the market yet, but you can expect a few within about five years. These cars don't just stay in their lane and away from other cars, they make decisions. Instead of braking to avoid hitting that slow-moving semi, they'll take a look around, decide to change lanes, and pass—Audi's prototype A7 can do that. They still need a human around if the weather messes with their sensors or the painted lane lines disappear, so no falling asleep at the wheel.

    Josh Valcarcel/WIRED

  • Seniors React to Driverless Cars

    WIRED takes ten seniors for a ride in a self-driving shuttle around UCSD's campus. How do they feel about this cutting edge technology?

    Directed and produced by Jared Neumark Shot by Benji Dell Sound by Kara Johnson Edited by Josh VanBurskirk Special thanks to Serving Seniors and Varden Labs

  • Google Wants to Take the Wheel With Its Self-Driving Car

    Google's self-driving car may look and sound like a giant Roomba but they may also be part of the future of automobile transportation.

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Alex Davies is a senior editor at Insider and the former editor of WIRED’s transportation section, where he specialized in covering autonomous and electric vehicles. He is also the author of Driven, a book chronicling the origin of and race to create the self-driving car. ... Read more
Senior Associate Editor
TopicscarsGoogleSelf-Driving CarsTesla
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