Toyota, VW and GM partner on autonomous vehicle education

The technology that powers autonomous and semi-autonomous cars improves every year, but full self-driving vehicles are still a long, long way off. There are metaphorical miles and miles of grey area between what's on the road today and what's been promised for the future. At CES 2019, more than a dozen companies, nonprofits and academic institutions announced the creation of Partners for Automated Vehicle Education. PAVE's stated goal is to "inform the public about automated vehicles and their potential so everyone can fully participate in shaping the future of transportation."

Volkswagen, GM, Daimler and Toyota are all members of PAVE. Other partners include tech companies Waymo, Intel, NVIDIA and groups like SAE International, the National Federation of the Blind and the National Council on Aging. During the group announcement, PAVE partners said that education for both the public and policymakers was the main focus rather than promoting or pushing any particular technology or specific public policies. PAVE's website will have resources to learn about autonomous technology. The organization will also host public demonstrations and workshops.

Deborah Hersman, CEO of the National Safety Council, said people need to know all the pros and cons of automated vehicles. Speakers talked about how autonomous vehicles could benefit the blind, the elderly and others that can't rely on driving today's automobiles for mobility.

In general, there's a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about these cars and their capabilities. Even people talking about and promoting these vehicles don't always have a clear understanding on what autonomous cars can and cannot do. Cars are growing smarter and more capable every year, but current driver assist systems vary by manufacturer and can even vary from car to car within a certain brand.