Reporter tests a car that drives and parks itself but still requires supervision

A demonstration covered by Fantástico showed a car equipped with an autonomous-driving system navigating urban routes and identifying traffic lights, cyclists, pedestrians and other vehicles. The system made decisions to stop and resume, changed lanes, avoided obstacles and parallel-parked without the reporter touching the steering wheel. The technology is already seen in cities such as New York, San Francisco and Shanghai and combines cameras, radars and computing systems. In China, one of the tested vehicles has 11 cameras.

The report explains that the private cars used in the test are classified as level 2 automation: they perform several tasks but still depend on human supervision. Situations such as heavy traffic, rain, motorcycles, potholes and unusual obstacles may still make it harder for the systems to interpret their surroundings. According to the report, research conducted by Alexandre Nascimento found an average increase of up to five times in accident risk under certain experimental conditions.