How Far Away Are We From Autonomous Vehicles?

When we picture an autonomous vehicle in the science fiction realm, we see a super cool driverless car moving at optimal speed on the road taking the passenger from point A to point B. Perhaps it is work related so the car can wait for you or if it's a party, the car can drive around to other places and make you some money while you enjoy yourself at the party.

Yes, that's a possibility with autonomous vehicles. The thing is removing the human element from driving unlocks a bunch of possibilities. More safety and free time, potentially less traffic congestion, efficient energy consumption etc.

Making this a reality is presently being worked on by many individuals and companies. It is up for prediction when it will happen. According to those working on it, it is sometime around the next half of this decade. There are some critical parts that need to be solved first.

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The Moving Parts

From the outside looking in, fully driverless cars should be here by now. What's really hard about replacing the human element on the front seat? But the thing is that it is a complex system to replicate all the important human faculties employed when driving a car into the autonomous vehicle with a good accuracy.

Presently, most autonomous vehicles are semi-autonomous in which the system act as a copilot for the human driver. It is reported that Tesla's Autopilot system will disengage when you don't have your eyes on the road.

I like the standards Tesla has set being one of the main pioneers on autonomous vehicles. Constantly rolling out software updates on the system and also improving the hardware.

One of the most important moving part in enabling fully autonomous vehicles is a very good system that can thoroughly map the environment with great accuracy, process all that data and execute commands all in real time. Accuracy is of the essence here because inaccuracy could spell death. The good part with technology is that every car crash will be like a bug that's discovered and fixed, potentially never happening again.

On the other end is fine tuning the sensors (i.e replica of human faculties) to a human level and beyond. Cameras, radars, sonars, GPS and infrared sensors have to be improve upon and made to cohesively work together just like in a human system. It reminds us how magnificent of a system a human is, the body has its own reflexes that are beyond the control of the mind.

Public Perception

Public perception isn't strictly a criteria for truly autonomous vehicles to exist. But there's a case to be made on the public's response to it and this can influence to a certain extent when it gets adopted into society or not.

I see it in two parts. First, it's the controversy of who owns all these vehicles and the power it could give them. On the control base(s), they could well decide for nefarious purposes highjack a vehicle or a fleet and take them to a different destination from the preset destination. Or they could well decide to stop the vehicle or prevent it from being turned on and driven.

Second, it's the paradigm shift of trusting and being comfortable with a system instead of a human being to take you ta a destination. It will be so un-normal especially to those who are not keen on new technologies such as old generation individuals.

Either way, I think autonomous vehicles will catch on, seeping into society like a sponge immersed in water. What do you think?

With the rapid advancement in technology, solving for the moving parts and getting it right may not be that far away.


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