美国监管机构正计划为自动驾驶汽车制定全新的视觉识别标准。根据美国国家公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）最新提出的监管改革方案，未来无人驾驶汽车或可使用独特的青绿色（Cyan）外部标识灯，以明确告知执法人员和其他道路使用者车辆当前正由自动驾驶系统控制，而非人类驾驶员操作。
这一提案属于美国《联邦机动车安全标准》（FMVSS）第108号法规修订的一部分。监管机构希望通过更新现有照明规定，为越来越多的自动驾驶车辆扫除制度障碍，同时建立统一的对外沟通方式，避免不同企业采用各式各样的识别方案而导致混乱。
多年来，自动驾驶行业一直在探讨如何向周围行人、其他驾驶员和执法部门传达“车内无人驾驶”这一信息。相关方案包括车身显示文字、语音提示、专用灯光以及其他视觉信号等，但始终缺乏统一标准。如今，NHTSA给出的答案是青绿色灯光。
监管机构表示，这种青绿色标识灯将用于“清晰且一致地向执法人员和其他道路使用者表明，车辆目前由自动驾驶系统运行”。之所以选择这一颜色，是因为现有车辆照明体系已经广泛占用了红色、黄色、白色以及警用和紧急车辆采用的蓝红闪烁灯光，而青绿色能够在不与现有交通信号产生混淆的情况下形成新的视觉识别类别。
事实上，使用类似颜色作为自动驾驶状态标识已经存在先例。梅赛德斯-奔驰曾获得美国部分州政府批准，在其L3级Drive Pilot自动驾驶车型上使用绿松石色信号灯，以显示自动驾驶系统处于工作状态。不过，该公司后来调整技术路线，转向更高级的L2++辅助驾驶方案，这一设计也未能大范围推广。
NHTSA希望建立全国统一标准，使Waymo、Nuro、Zoox等自动驾驶运营商，以及通用汽车、梅赛德斯-奔驰等汽车制造商能够采用相同的信号体系。
根据提案内容，安装青绿色标识灯并非强制要求，而是制造商可自主选择的功能。但监管机构将对灯光颜色、亮度以及安装位置制定统一规范，以确保所有采用该方案的车辆都能呈现一致、合法且易于识别的视觉效果，而不会出现五花八门的灯光设计。
除新增自动驾驶标识灯外，NHTSA还计划删除部分针对无人驾驶车辆已经失去实际意义的照明要求。目前法规仍要求车辆配备实体危险警示灯开关、手动远近光切换装置以及转向控制杆等设备，但对于没有方向盘和踏板的自动驾驶车辆而言，这些要求已显得不合时宜。
监管机构还计划调整部分车灯测试标准，使汽车制造商能够更灵活地采用现代LED照明架构，减少为了满足历史遗留法规而增加的额外设计和认证成本。此外，NHTSA还在考虑取消关于远光灯与近光灯布局位置的部分限制要求，以进一步提升车辆设计自由度。
分析人士认为，这项提案反映出美国监管体系正开始为完全无人驾驶车辆的大规模部署铺平道路。随着自动驾驶出租车和无方向盘自动驾驶汽车逐步走向商业化运营，建立统一且易于识别的外部信号系统，可能成为未来自动驾驶交通生态的重要组成部分。
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United States regulators are planning to develop completely new visual recognition standards for auto-driving cars. Under the newly introduced regulatory reform programme of the National Road Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), future unmanned vehicles or unique green (Cyan) external marking lamps could be used to clearly inform law enforcement and other road user vehicles that they are currently being controlled by automatic driving systems rather than by human drivers.
This proposal is part of the United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) Regulation 108 amendment. Regulators want to clean up an increasing number of self-driving vehicles by updating existing lighting requirements In addition to institutional barriers, a unified approach to external communication should be established to avoid confusion resulting from the adoption of a variety of identification programmes by different enterprises.
Over the years, the autopilot industry has been exploring how to convey the message of “unmanned vehicles” to surrounding pedestrians, other drivers and law enforcement agencies. Relevant programmes include body displays of text, voice tips, special lights and other visual signals, but there is a persistent lack of uniform standards. Now the answer given by NHTSA is green light.
The regulator indicated that the green light would be used to “clearly and consistently indicate to law enforcement officers and other road users that vehicles are currently operated by automatic driving systems”. This colour has been selected because the existing vehicle lighting system already has extensive use of red, yellow, white, and blue glittering lights for police and emergency vehicles, while green can create new visual recognition categories without confusion with existing traffic signals.
In fact, there are precedents for the use of similar colours as auto-driving status markers. Mercedes-Benz was authorized by some U.S. state governments to use a green pine-coloured light on their L3-class Drive Pilot model to show that the autopilot system is operational. However, the company has since re-routed its technical course to a more advanced L2+Advanced Driving Programme, a design that has not been widely replicated.
NHTSA hopes to establish national uniform standards that will enable auto-pilot operators such as Waymo, Nuro and Zoox, as well as car manufacturers such as General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, to adopt the same signal system.
According to the proposal, the installation of green labels is not mandatory, but a function that the manufacturer can choose on its own. However, the regulator will develop uniform regulations for light colours, brightness and placement to ensure that all vehicles using the programme have consistent, legitimate and easily identifiable visual effects without a variety of light designs.
In addition to the additional self-driving lights, NHTSA plans to remove some of the lighting requirements for unmanned vehicles that have become irrelevant. The current regulations still require vehicles to be equipped with physical hazard warning light switches, manual close light switching and switch to control poles, but these requirements appear to be inappropriate for automatic driving vehicles without steering wheel and pedals.
The regulator also plans to adjust some of the tests to allow automobile manufacturers to introduce modern LED lighting structures with greater flexibility and to reduce the additional design and certification costs to meet historical legacy regulations. In addition, NHTSA is considering the removal of some restrictions on the location of remote and near-light lamps to further enhance vehicle design freedom.
According to analysts, this proposal reflects the fact that the United States regulatory system is beginning to pave the way for the large-scale deployment of fully unmanned vehicles. As auto-driving taxis and undirected auto-driving vehicles move towards commercialization, the establishment of a unified and easily identifiable external signal system may become an important component of the future auto-driving transport ecology.
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