Level 1
(Anastasia, 2025)
What Features Are Present
Level 1 encompasses features found on most cars on the road today. They have cruise control, which includes adaptive cruise control(ACC), emergency braking, and the same warnings we saw present in level 0. Cars that fall under the category of level 1 have features that automatically control the acceleration and deceleration, or the steering, but only one of the two at a time. This could also include lane keep assist (when not used at the same time as cruise control), or park assist, where it controls the wheel as you give it gas and brake. This also includes stability and traction control systems.
Examples
As mentioned previously, most cars you will see and interact with fall under this umbrella. In the early 2020s, manufacturers started enabling ACC and lane keep assist at the same time, but most cars from the late 20th century up until early in the 2020s fall under this category, having only cruise control. Examples for this level include Subaru’s up until roughly 2024, and Volkswagen cars up until around 2023.
Security
Here, we start to see some holes in the autonomous systems - because the computers of the car have control over their steering or pedals, there is a potential to have these computers do something to harm the occupants of the vehicle, or those around the vehicle. That being said, these cars still have limited internet connections, so it is hard to access that technology, and on top of that, the computer only has control over the pedals or the steering, so the car isn’t fully incapacitated. Also, older vehicles use analogue cruise control, which doesn’t have that liability.
Safety
Whilst this level does bring with it some safety protection, such as emergency braking, the onset of cruise control makes it more likely for drivers to get inattentive behind the wheel. Lane keep assist also both helps and hurts the safety of the driver - it helps you not veer out of your lane, but it makes you less aware and focused on your driving.