How Cars Have Also Started Learning to Drive

What are Autonomous Vehicles?

An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that is able to drive itself without the guidance or control of a human. An autonomous vehicle uses a fully automated system of sensors and cameras to monitor the external conditions and respond in a way that would not compromise the safety of the occupants of the vehicle.

A prototype of Google's automated car

Autonomous vehicles are equipped with advanced sensors, AI systems, computing systems and are linked to the IoT. Learn more about IoT here. These devices are also enabled with 5G connections making the response time ever faster. Learn more about 5G here. They rely on AI and ML(Machine Learning) systems to 'understand' their environment and react to different situations. Learn more about Machine Learning here.

Challenges towards building autonomous vehicles

Some of the challenges towards completely autonomous vehicles are-

(1) Even though a lot of technological advancements have been made, the reliability of these systems of sensors, AI, ML, algorithms, etc. is still a long way away.

(2) New laws and regulations need tp be formulated to build the trust of the public in these autonomous vehicles.

(3) Hackers might gain access into the computers of the car and may alter the algorithms, leading to a compromise in the security and the malfunction of the car's systems.

(4) The current road infrastructure might need to be upgraded to accomodate the movement of autonomous cars.

(5) People are also reluctant for autonomous cars to hit the road as it will lead to the large scale unemployment of taxi-drivers and personal drivers.

Some applications of autonomous vehicles

Some applications of autonomous vehicles are-

(1) Robotaxis- Robotaxis or self-driving taxis are one of the most common potential uses of autonomous cars. These taxis may be operated by taxi companies, like Uber or rideshare companies.

(2) Automatic buses- These automatic buses can be introduced in public transport which will help the authorities reducethe cost of employing drivers.

(3) Automatic trucks- Automatic trucks will be useful in transporting materials over long distances. There will also be no requirements for breaks in between long trips, as required with human drivers and will help in the faster transportation of materials.

(4) Autonomous micro-transportation- Autonomous micro-transportation refers to last mile connectivity. These automatic vehicles can help in making last mile connectivity easier.

(5) Autonomous heavy vehicles- Heavy vehicles like dumpsters, mobile cranes and agricultural vehicles like threshers, pesticide sprayers, etc. can be made autonomous to reduce the workload on farmers and provide a low cost solution that can be adopted without much information on technology.

These autonomous vehicles have almost become a reality these days with companies like Google trying out their cars, but word with completely autonomous transport is quite far away.

That is all for this post on Autonomous Vehicles. Please follow this blog for more exciting news on ground breaking technology. Feel free to fill the contact form located on the sidebar if you have any questions and write a comment down below to give a review on this post.

Regards,

Aarav Iyer

References:

(1) (image and data) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-driving_car#Technology

(2) https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/what-is-an-autonomous-vehicle

(3) https://www.techopedia.com/definition/30056/autonomous-vehicle

(4) https://innoviz.tech/blog/autonomous-vehicle-applications

(5) ChatGPT