The Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (AVSC), an industry program of SAE Industry Technologies Consortium (SAE ITC), has published a best practice document on how passengers can initiate an emergency stop or call while in a fully autonomous vehicle (AV).

"Passenger-Initiated Emergency Trip Interruption" details how passengers can intervene if they perceive an emergency, and what vehicle actions they can expect as a result. The document strongly advocates for all fleet-managed SAE Level 4 or 5 automated driving-system–dedicated vehicles to have a passenger-initiated emergency stop function and/or a passenger-initiated call function. These features should be noticeably different than other, non-emergency trip interruptions like route changes.

Much like an emergency stop button or a call button in an elevator, the general public understands that while they don’t control the elevator car, they have the ability to stop and ask for help during an emergency situation,” said Edward Straub, AVSC executive director. “Riding in an AV should be no different and this best practice provides guidance industry should consider.

Read the news release on SAE’s website to learn more.