Level 3
(Anastasia, 2025)
What Features Are Present
Level 3 is the start of the vehicles that we consider autonomous. This level incorporates the vehicles that can operate autonomously under optimal driving conditions, but require human supervision to account for any unexpected scenarios. These vehicles can drive you down the highway, hands free, changing lanes and passing other vehicles autonomously. The catch is that they still require you to keep your eyes on the road, and be ready to take over. Many manufacturers require highways to be mapped out in order to allow their system to function properly, so only work on some highways. Other companies have level 3 technology that can navigate even off the highway, in some cases navigating your entire commute fully autonomously.
Examples
Teslas are thought of as the prime example of this level - In 2018 Tesla introduced their on-ramp to off-ramp self driving called “Navigate on Autopilot” which could handle all interstate driving, while requiring you to be paying attention and take over when something happened or you reached the offramp. In 2022, they released Full Self Driving to all new cars, which allowed for the Navigate on Autopilot feature set to work on roadways other than highways. This software can detect stoplights and other cars and obstructions on the road, and avoid them. It still requires the driver to be ready to take over at a moments notice, but it is ways ahead of their previous techniques. Ford have a service called Blue Cruise, that has provided level 2autonomous highway driving on 97% of highways in the US and Canada in the Mach-E and F150 since 2021, and in 2025 it gained the lane change ability that pushes it into the level 3 category.
Security
At this level, the different techniques used by different companies has a big impact on the security of the vehicle. In terms of bad actors gaining access to the vehicles, this level overall has the most risk we’ve seen yet, but companies are working to implement security measures to reduce the risk. There have been several cases of vehicles at this level getting hacked into, either to gain control of the vehicle or bypass the keys. Whilst the use of a network is a different technique to getting access to the car, it is worth noting that there has always been a way to steal or hot-wire a car.
Safety
This level brings with it even better safety features and awareness on the road than other levels, but there still is the risk of something unexpected happening, and if the driver is not ready to react, there could be issues. This level does still require the driver to be paying attention, and while it is generally better at handling the mishaps, it also means that the drivers are more likely to become complacent and not be ready to react when the car calls for it. The responsibility for safety falls on the manufacturer to test and improve their capabilities, so some implementations could be much safer than others.