For the past hundred years, innovation within the
automotive sector has brought major technological advances, leading to safer,
cleaner, and more affordable vehicles. But, for the most part, since Henry Ford
introduced the moving assembly line, the changes have been incremental,
evolutionary. Now, in the early decades of the 21st century, the industry
appears to be on the cusp of revolutionary change—with potential to
dramatically reshape not just the competitive landscape but also the way we
interact with vehicles and, indeed, the future design of our roads and cities.
The revolution, when it comes, will be engendered by the arrival of autonomous
or “Driverless” vehicles.
Driverless Cars is Vega’s topic of the month.
Read an executive summary of our monthly technical review at page 3. The full
article is published at our Blog.
Vega newsletter is published monthly
by Vega BI, and distributed to our partners to facilitate pursuit of a common
interest in top-notch technologies.
Driverless Cars or Autonomous
Vehicles
A
driverless car is an automobile that has an autopilot system allowing it to
safely move from one place to another without help from a human driver.
Ideally, the only role of a human in such a vehicle would be indicating the
destination.
The implementation of driverless cars could theoretically
lead to many improvements in transportation, including:
ï
Reduction in car accidents,
autonomous system's increased reliability and faster reaction time
ï
More efficient
transportation, Increased roadway capacity , Higher speed limit
ï
increase in road capacity
ï
Relief of vehicle occupants
from driving and navigation chores, Removal of constraints on occupants' under
age, over age, unlicensed, blind, distracted, intoxicated, or otherwise
impaired.
ï
Alleviation of parking
scarcity, Reduction of space required for vehicle parking
ï
No need for traffic police
and road signage
ï
Greatly reduced mobility
costs through car sharing
ï
Simplify introduction of
alternative fuels
There are, however, many obstacles to successfully
implementing the driverless car as a common and effective method of
transportation. This is especially true in situations in which a driverless car
would need to safely navigate alongside normal cars directed by human drivers.
In spite of the various benefits to increased vehicle
automation, some foreseeable challenges persist:
ï
Liability for damage
ï
Resistance by individuals to
forfeit control of their cars, Drivers
being inexperienced if situations arose requiring manual driving
ï
Software reliability, A
car's computer could potentially be compromised
ï
Implementation of legal
framework and establishment of government regulations for self-driving cars
ï
Loss of driving-related
jobs
ï
Autonomous cars may require
very high-quality specialized maps to operate properly
To be useful, a driverless car must be able to navigate to
a given destination based on passenger-provided instructions, avoid
environmental obstacles, and safely avoid other vehicles. Some proposed methods
for meeting these goals involve developing entirely new transportation
infrastructures or substantially altering the existing infrastructures to
accommodate driverless vehicles.
One example involves developing a monorail system to which
private vehicles can "dock". Upon connection, the monorail would
guide the private vehicles to their destinations.
This type of system would simplify navigation and collision
avoidance but would require large-scale changes to the existing transportation
infrastructures.
Other ideas for the development of a driverless car only
involve the development of a new type of car and do not require any
infrastructure changes. Such vehicles would operate like traditional
human-directed vehicles and would not require more than minor infrastructure
changes. For this type of driverless car to work, it would need to have access
to some form of guidance system that would direct it to its destination. It
would also need a short-range guidance system that would allow it to safely
navigate through traffic without endangering its passengers or other drivers on
the road.
There are many potential advantages to using a driverless
car instead of a traditional human-controlled vehicle. A driverless car would
not be subject to human error, one of the most common causes of car accidents.
There would be little need for driver's licenses, highway patrols, extensive
traffic laws, and even stop signs or street lights. Such vehicles would not be
affected by jerky or erratic human drivers and would, therefore, be able to
drive very close together. This could lead to a situation in which high road
density would not have a detrimental effect on speed, so many cars could travel
close together while maintaining a high average speed.
Conclusion
Autonomous cars will greatly impact on our lives. They will
make driving safer, more convenient, less energy-intensive and cheaper. They
will greatly reduce our CO2 footprint, enhance our freedom and reduce the risk
of dying in a traffic accident. They will force us to confront philosophical
issues about us and the machines we have created and they will change patterns
of work, life and economic organization. Although the benefits are obvious, the
current legal framework is still hindering the further evolution of this
technology and may thus be responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths per
year which would have been prevented if autonomous cars had reached maturity
earlier.
It is time to seriously consider this technology and to put
it into service to the benefit of our societies.