Nowadays, in most urban areas, a car is a must have. Since their emergence, the cars were the symbol of wealth and a high status in society, thus the automobile has become a basic element of modern society that seems to be indispensable. The freedom that it provides is, however, overshadowed by the stress, pollution and losing the time behind the wheel. Regardless, the car you driving the goal is the same: a faster movement between two points. This is the reason why people prefer to hire a personal driver. What if that personal driver were an AI?
The construction of an autonomous car
The necessary systems required for autonomous driving are already a reality, but these systems still need the attention of a human driver in critical situations. A smart system controls the accelerations and also the brakes through different cameras and sensors. This system is also capable of adjusting the lights so the other drivers won't blinded because of the bright light. The autopilot, which initially only maintains a constant speed of the car, has now been able to adjust its speed according to the vehicle in front, thanks to a radar system.
Sensors are more integrated than ever
The parking sensors are more evolved and the advanced software of the cameras is capable of identifying road signs and warns the driver in case of exceeding the speed limit.
Moreover, the car position is determined thanks to GPS with a high accuracy. On top of this, sophisticated laser sensors are able to map the area around the car, achieving 360 images in fractions of a second and sophisticated software is capable of decoding these images in milliseconds, identifying objects and potentially dangerous situations much faster than the human can react.
Finally. with the new communication systems, car-2-car and car-2-infrastructure, drivers can communicate among themselves and with the various components of road infrastructure.
A promising future
More than a century after the first car, autonomous cars can be a scary thing for most drivers who are used to the classic cars. Although it is expected that the emergence of autonomous cars will happen around 2050, major car manufacturers have already started a race: who will make the first completely Autonomous Car by 2020.?One thing is definite: Tesla Inc is on the right track.
