Infographic: How far away are self-driving cars?

By now, we’re all familiar with the recently updated chart published by the US Society of Automotive Engineers.

It helpfully categorizes the autonomous capability of a vehicle from level 0 – the very beginnings of ADAS technology – to the holy grail of level 5, which requires no input from a driver whatsoever.

And whether you believe in their accuracy or not, the levels are the current ‘least worst’ way of giving those who report on the industry, plus consumers attempting to understand the grey areas of autonomous drive, something tangible to compare technologies against.

The infographic we’ve produced here is actually the product of a rough scribble used in the Automotive IQ office for that very reason – to keep tabs on which OEM has offered – or at the very least promised – what technology, and when it might hit the road.

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We thought we’d draw up and share the information in an infographic form. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, to keep things readable and understandable, but gives an idea of the intentions of OEMs when it comes to potential roll-out dates for different levels of self-driving technology.

As with all things new, we’d be surprised if the dates don’t slip for technological, legislative or other reasons, but it’ll be interesting to watch how level 4 and level 5 vehicles are rolled out, whether its successful, and whether it really does change the automotive landscape as promised.