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This document provides guidelines for the safe conduct of on-road tests of vehicles equipped with prototype conditional, high, and full (levels 3-5) automated driving systems (ADSs), as defined by SAE J3016. It does not include guidance for testing production ADSs intended for sale to the general public. The scope is further limited to testing of automated prototype vehicles on public roads. These guidelines do not address: Testing of driver assist (Level 1) or partial (Level 2) automation systems, which rely on a human driver to monitor the environment. (See SAE J3016 for Definitions of Levels of Automated Systems.) Closed-course testing. Component-level testing. The precise regime of road testing for a particular prototype will depend on the intended level of automation and the targeted capabilities of the prototype (see SAE J3016 for more information).

This document provides safety-relevant guidance for on-road testing of vehicles being operated by prototype conditional, high, and full (Levels 3 to 5) ADS, as defined by SAE J3016. It does not include guidance for evaluating the performance of post-production ADS-equipped vehicles. Moreover, this guidance only addresses testing of ADS-operated vehicles as overseen by in-vehicle fallback test drivers (IFTD). These guidelines do not address: Remote driving, including remote fallback test driving of prototype ADS-operated test vehicles in driverless operation. (Note: The term “remote fallback test driver” is included as a defined term herein and is intended to be addressed in a future iteration of this document. However, at this time, too little is published or known about this type of testing to provide even preliminary guidance.)

This document provides guidelines for the safe conduct of on-road tests of vehicles equipped with prototype conditional, high, and full (levels 3-5) automated driving systems (ADSs), as defined by SAE J3016. It does not include guidance for testing production ADSs intended for sale to the general public. The scope is further limited to testing of automated prototype vehicles on public roads. These guidelines do not address: Testing of driver assist (Level 1) or partial (Level 2) automation systems, which rely on a human driver to monitor the environment. (See SAE J3016 for Definitions of Levels of Automated Systems.) Closed-course testing. Component-level testing. The precise regime of road testing for a particular prototype will depend on the intended level of automation and the targeted capabilities of the prototype (see SAE J3016 for more information).

It is expected that Level 4 and 5 automated driving systems-dedicated vehicles (ADS-DVs) will eventually enable persons to travel at will who are otherwise unable to obtain a driver's license for a conventional vehicle, namely, persons with certain visual, cognitive, and/or physical impairments. This information report focuses on these disabilities, but also provides guidance for those with other disabilities. This report is limited to fleet operated on-demand shared mobility scenarios, as this is widely considered to be the first way people will be able to interact with ADS-DVs. To be more specific, this report does not address fixed route transit services or private vehicle ownership. Similarly, this report is focused on road-worthy vehicles; not scooters, golf carts, etc.