Autonomy in a box: Ghost brings self-driving to life

Tesla and Mercedes-Benz dominate the headlines with their partially automated driving offering, portraying an image of the technology as a luxury extra. These features do indeed come at a cost, but even Tesla’s Full-Self-Driving functionality is classified as only SAE Level 2 automation; taking autonomous driving capabilities beyond Level 3 remains a challenge.

According to market research company Canalys, 3.5 million passenger cars worldwide were sold with Level 2 features in Q4 of 2020. The US was the leading market, with Level 2 featuring in 30% of new vehicles sold in that quarter. It was followed by Japan (20%), Europe (19%) and China (12%). Overall, 11.2 million cars sold in 2020 had Level 2 features, representing growth of 78% compared to 2019.