Thursday, October 20, 2016

On the safety and legality of the comma one


The comma one will not turn your car into an autonomous vehicle. It is an advanced driver assistance system. To put it in traditional auto manufacturer terms, it is "lane keep assist" and "adaptive cruise control"

Our supported car, the Honda 2016/17 Civic with Sensing already has these features. But as anyone with the car will tell you, they aren't very good. The comma.ai system is just much better. It provides no new functionality, so it should be legal everywhere the Honda systems are; it is an aftermarket upgrade.

With all these Tesla autopilot like systems, it is very important that you pay attention. This system does not remove any of the driver's responsibilities from the task of driving. We provide two safety guarantees:

1. Enforced disengagements. Step on either pedal or press the cancel button to retake full manual control of the car immediately.

2. Actuation limits. While the system is engaged, the actuators are constrained to operate within reasonable limits; the same limits used by the stock system on the Honda.

At comma.ai, we are working as hard as we can to deliver the best possible user experience. Onward to the launch.