I beg to differ. L3 is defined as a system that monitors the driving environment in addition to executing steering and acceleration/deceleration. it is defined by the SAE as "the driving mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task with the expectation that the human driver will respond appropriately to a request to intervene."
Lane changing is certainly a dynamic driving task, wouldn't you say and deciding when to make a lane change certainly requires monitoring the environment (seeing other cars, predicting the path of those other cars, determining if those other cars are a collision risk, detecting the lanes and knowing where you are in relation to those lanes etc). So lane changing is definitely a piece of L3.
Based on the definition of L3, V9 certainly qualifies on the highway.
Let's look at the definition again: "the driving mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task with the expectation that the human driver will respond appropriately to a request to intervene."
If "all aspects of the dynamic driving task" is not about capability, what is it about?
Depends on what the features are. If the features represent a higher level of autonomy, then yeah, they will most certainly bring the system closer to L3.
Uhm no. That's like saying if the car can handle parking then it brings the system closer to L3.
Lane Change is not what makes a system L3 and Lane Change is not DDT. Its a feature. The SAE calls it "DRIVING AUTOMATION SYSTEM FEATURE"
Which describes A level 1-5 driving automation system’s design-specific functionality at a given level of driving automation within a particular ODD, if applicable. Each feature satisfies a usage specification. Features may be referred to by generic names (e.g., automated parking) or by proprietary names.
Lane change is not however DDT.
DYNAMIC DRIVING TASK (DDT) is All of the real-time operational and tactical functions required to operate a vehicle in on-road traffic, excluding the strategic functions such as trip scheduling and selection of destinations and waypoints, and including without limitation:
1. Lateral vehicle motion control via steering (operational);
2. Longitudinal vehicle motion control via acceleration and deceleration (operational);
3. Monitoring the driving environment via object and event detection, recognition, classification, and response preparation (operational and tactical);
4. Object and event response execution (operational and tactical); Maneuver planning (tactical); and Enhancing conspicuity via lighting, signaling and gesturing, etc. (tactical).
What makes a system L3 is that the system is monitoring the environment (which is apart of the DDT), and the ability to warn the driver in advance because of that, while giving him sufficient time (for example 5-10 seconds) to intervene.
You really need to read the Full SAE document that
@Snuffysasa posted, the 2018 (
J3016_201806) revised version preferably.
It goes into detail on what is DDT, ODD, Monitoring environment, Disengagement, etc...
For example: a level 3 ADS feature designed to perform the complete DDT during traffic jams on fully access-controlled freeways. The level 3 ADS traffic jam feature requires the user to drive the vehicle to the freeway before engaging the feature, as well as again driving the vehicle upon exiting the freeway in order to complete the trip.
A level 3 ADS feature that performs the entire DDT during traffic jams on freeways is not able to do so when it encounters a crash scene and therefore issues a request to intervene to the DDT fallback-ready user. S/he responds by taking over performance of the entire DDT in order to maneuver around the crash scene. (Note that in this example, a minimal risk condition is not needed or achieved.)
Some level 3 features may be designed to automatically perform the fallback and achieve a minimal risk condition in some circumstances, such as when an obstacle-free, adjacent shoulder is present, but not in others, such as when no such road shoulder is available. The assignment of level 3 therefore does not restrict the ADS from automatically achieving the MRC, but it cannot guarantee automated achievement of MRC in all cases within its ODD. Moreover, automated MRC achievement in some, but not all, circumstances that demand it does not constitute level 4 functionality.
At level 3, an ADS is capable of continuing to perform the DDT for at least several seconds after providing the fallback-ready user with a request to intervene. The DDT fallback-ready user is then expected to achieve a minimal risk condition if s/he determines it to be necessary.
Another example of an ADS is A vehicle equipped with a level 4 parking valet feature designed to allow the user to exit the vehicle near a parking lot and then dispatch it to a parking space.
(I lifted some relevant info from the document)