Self-driving car: Everything you need to know for a driverless future
Intelligent technologies are improving lifestyle in all sectors of the automotive industry, and so it is happening in the transport industry as well. Driverless cars carry huge promises to enhance the economy and productivity of a country. The rise in driverless cars will allow employees to be more productive without the worry of deliveries or transportation. Autonomous vehicles can provide new driving options to everyone and will improve the road safety of the general public. This article describes everything you need to know about driverless cars including technology, classification, potential advantages, and limitations.
What are autonomous vehicles?
An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that includes a computational management system to sense the surroundings and environment and perform necessary driving functions. They require less human intervention to operate and can even achieve decision-making processes on their own. A complete autonomous vehicle can go anywhere without any human presence and can accomplish anything a human driver could do. Although the fully autonomous vehicle is still in the making, there are several powerful autonomous functions already available that have made driving more automatic than before.
There is six-level of driving automation, listed below, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) depending on the extent of the vehicles taking control of the driving functionalities.
- Level 0: or referred to as No automation, the vehicle has no control of the driving functions and the driver performs manual driving.
- Level 1: or referred to as Driver assistance, the vehicle can support with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) that allows the vehicle to control either steering or acceleration and braking.
- Level 2: or referred to as Partial automation, the vehicle can control both steering and speed acceleration and braking. The driver is still required to be in contact with the feet pedals or the steering wheel, even though the vehicle can control the functions simultaneously.
- Level 3: or referred to as Conditional automation, allows the vehicle to completely take over most of the driving tasks in certain circumstances. The driver will be required to override the vehicle when requested by the Advanced Driving System (ADS). If the driver fails to take back control of the vehicle, the ADS will slowly decelerate and come to halt.
- Level 4: or referred to as High automation, the vehicle can perform all driving functions in certain circumstances. The driver can perform other tasks as needed, including socializing or entertaining.
- Level 5: or referred to as Full automation, the vehicle will be able to perform every driving function in all circumstances. There is no requirement for a driver for such a vehicle. It requires zero human assistance or attention to perform driving functions.
Benefits of self driving cars:
Even though there is a considerable open debate on who takes the responsibilities for accidents for self driving cars or how would countries involve urban planning in adapting the autonomous traffic, there are significant advantages of self driving cars.
- Increased safety: Self driving cars will avoid human errors while driving and will distinctively reduce the number of causalities of traffic-related accidents.
- Enhanced productivity: As drivers are no longer required to perform driving, they can use their time and energy on other tasks, hence increasing productivity. It will further allow people to rest during overnight traveling and reduce fatigue.
- Improved lifestyle for everyone: Driving will be possible for those who are not able to drive either due to disability or to age. The self driving car will make it possible for everyone, regardless of their ability to drive.
- Intelligent transportation system: With a complete combination of vehicle automation and vehicle electrification, there are uncountable ways to make a smart transportation system for a country. The ride-sharing feature itself will decrease traffic, reduce the amount of CO2, and diminish transport costs.
How does a self driving car work?
Self driving cars uses multiple technologies such as LIDAR, RADAR, ultrasonic sensors, optical cameras to receive input data to incorporate artificial intelligence to make the decision processes required for performing the driving functions.
The roof of the car holds a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor, which measures distance by illuminating light and analyzing the reflected light. This remote sensing technology creates a 3D map of the current environment using 360 degree rotation of the sensor. The side of the vehicle includes an ultrasonic sensor to monitor the sideways movement of the car and establish the position of the car is relative to the 3D map generated by the LIDAR sensor. The ultrasonic sensors assist with parking, provide warning before the collision, and help obey traffic rules. Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) sensors are placed in the front and rear bumper of the self driving vehicle to determine the obstacles, front and back, along with their speed. Radar sensors use electromagnetic signals to calculate the mutual velocity of objects and the vehicle. Video cameras are installed at the top of the self driving cars to read traffic signs and lights and a global navigation system is used to make the 3D map to be more readable. All the data from RADAR, LIDAR ultrasonic sensors, and cameras are incorporated using artificial intelligence into the electronic control units (ECUs) to implement the driving functions. Furthermore, vehicle communication in peer to peer network allows the vehicles to create a network and further coordinate vehicle driving.
5 Best self driving car companies:
With the rising possibilities of self driving cars in the future, many automobile companies are already investing resources and time to develop the most convenient self driving cars. However, some companies have already taken a lead and are performing test-driving their models on public roads. Below are the five most promising autonomous vehicle companies that may soon launch their product in the market.
1. Waymo: Waymo began as the Google self driving car project in 2009 and it is in the process to develop as a fully driverless car in the future. Waymo One has already gained an experience of 32 million miles of experience in the real world and 16 billion miles in simulation, claiming the world’s longest and toughest driving test. In addition to LiDAR, RADAR, and cameras, Waymo integrates microphones to detect sirens from nearby vehicles. Waymo One, classified as autonomy level 4 by SAE, is already operating as robo-taxis, in Phoenix, Arizona.
2. Argo AI: Ford Motor Company’s Argo AI is also testing 100 models of its driverless cars in six cities of the United States. The business has already attracted huge investments from other large automakers including Volkswagen. Unlike Waymo, Argo is not planning to launch its model as driverless models but is planning to produce technologies for self driving cars.
3. Tesla: Elon Musk’s Tesla driverless car model ranks number three in this list. The vehicle is said to be the best in executing the advanced level of driving functions. Musk’s s model includes RADAR, ultrasonic and 2D cameras excluding Lidar sensor to perform the autonomous driving functions. The prototype vehicle of Tesla will be reaching an autonomy level of 5 by SAE, which would be a big leap for the car industry.
4. Baidu: The Chinese search engine company, Baidu, would list number 4 in the list with 300 autonomous test vehicles already on roads. The test vehicles are under test on the Chinese roads and have gained an experience of 1.8 million miles already. Similar to Waymo, Baidu has started SAE level 4 robo-taxi service in Changsha in China’s Hunan province.
References:
2. https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/what-is-an-autonomous-vehicle
3. https://www.synopsys.com/automotive/what-is-autonomous-car.html
4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146520300995
