Energy Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles - Present and the Future

A number of research papers including several review papers have reported that autonomous vehicles (AVs) consume a significant amount of power to run the onboard computers that do all the calculations needed to process and analyze the significant amount of data. In addition, there is a substantial amount of power consumption by onboard sensors including radars, cameras, Lidars, etc. ^[1] The resulting power consumption results in range reduction in electric autonomous vehicles. This in-turn increases the emissions based on how the electricity is obtained for charging these vehicle batteries. As the degree of automation moves up the ladder of AVs, the complexity of the overall control, management, and the associated tasks grow exponentially, and hence increasing the power consumption. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) defines 6 levels of driving automation ranging from Level 0 (fully manual) to Level 5 (fully autonomous). Level 0 is no driving automation and the driver is responsible for full control of the vehicle. Level 1 is the driver assisted by a support system like adaptive cruise control or lane-changing assistance, but the driver must remain engaged. In Level 2, the vehicle can perform multiple automated functions, such as braking, accelerating, and steering, through advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS), but the driver must actively supervise the vehicle's operation. The Level 3 vehicle can manage all aspects of driving, but the driver still needs to be present in case of an emergency or system failure to override the automation. In Level 4, the vehicle operates autonomously but is limited by speed or to a certain location. The human override is still an option. Level 5 is full driving automation, which can operate autonomously in all driving scenarios and under any conditions, without geographic or speed limitations. At this level, human interaction is reduced to merely setting the destination. The levels of automated vehicles currently in market mostly are Levels 1 and 2. Mercedes-Benz offers Level 3 autonomous driving in its S-Class and EQS models. Few other companies including Audi, BMW, and Tesla are planning to soon market the Level 3 vehicles. Levels 3 and 4 are currently being deployed for testing in a few cities in limited areas. Level 5 will hopefully be someday in the future.