Synthesis of Autonomous Vehicle Guideline for Public Road-Testing Sustainability

• Published in: Sustainability 2022-02, Vol.14 (3), p.1456
• Main Authors: Abu Bakar, Amirul Ibrahim, Abas, Mohd Azman, Muhamad Said, Mohd Farid, Tengku Azhar, Tengku Azrul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Automation; Automobiles; Autonomous vehicles; Driving ability; Guidelines; Human error; Laboratories; Public opinion; Regulation; Risk reduction; Roads; Roads & highways; Safety; Sustainability; Traffic congestion
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su14031456

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to reduce the risk of accidents as they eliminate the element of human error from driving. Lack of attention, poor judgement, or physical limitations may lead to road incidents. Thus, the development and deployment of autonomous vehicles should be a priority. However, before being publicly available, autonomous vehicles must be tested to ensure their viability and safety by conducting public road testing. Autonomous vehicles have been designed and tested since the early 1900s; however, deployment of fully autonomous vehicles on public roads only started in the 2000s. Numerous countries have developed guidelines for public road testing, but those rules are not uniform, and discrepancies occur between nations. Issues such as vehicular safety, registrations, authority, insurance, cybersecurity, and infrastructures weigh differently in each country. Synthesizing these diverse national regulations into global guidelines would promote the safety and sustainability of autonomous vehicle testing and benefit all parties interested in autonomous vehicles.