The Science and Future of the Self-Driving Car

Aaron Phillips
Nov 2 · 7 min read

By: Aaron Phillips

A completely autonomous vehicle is defined by a car that is capable of self-driving in every situation. Right now, there are no legally operating, fully-autonomous cars in the U.S. However, there are partial autonomous vehicles, or vehicles with semi-autonomous features. This includes assisted parking, self-braking features, and lane assistance. You or your parent’s cars might have these features. But is it possible to have a completely autonomous vehicle that is safe for the passenger and its surroundings? This is what this article will cover. The science and tech behind an AV (autonomous vehicle), the safety of passengers and pedestrians, the companies who have already tried to implement autonomous vehicles, and the future of the self-driving car.

What is a Self Driving Car a.k.a. Autonomous vehicle?

A self driving car, or autonomous vehicle, is a car that can completely work all by itself, with no human intervention. However, there are different levels to an AV. There are five different levels of autonomy, which describes the different capabilities of an AV.

Level 0: All major systems of the vehicle are controlled by humans.

Level 1: Systems like cruise control or an auto-braking system, can be controlled by the vehicle only once at a time.

Level 2: The vehicle offers at least two automated features that can work simultaneously, like accelerations and steering, but require human intervention for a safe operation.

Level 3: The vehicle can manage all safety-critical functions under certain conditions. However there is a need for human intervention when alerted.

Level 4: The vehicle is fully-autonomous in some driving scenarios, though not all. Only little human intervention.

Level 5: The car is completely capable of self-driving in every situation, with no human intervention.

Most modern cars are around the autonomy level of 2 or 3. Based on many companies, they estimate that in level 4 cars will be for sale in the next several years.

How it Works

Now that we have talked about what an AV is, you’re probably thinking, how does an AV work? Glad you asked! Self-driving cars have five core components: Computer vision, sensor fusion, localization, path planning, and control.

Computer vision is how the cameras are used to see the road. Humans represent the power of vision by handling a car with their eyes and brain. For an autonomous vehicle, they use camera images to find lane lines, or track other vehicles on the road.

Sensor fusion is how the car integrates data from other sensors — like radars and lasers — together with the camera data to build a comprehensive understanding of the cars surrounding. It calculates certain measurements like distance or velocity. By combining all the data, the car gets a better understanding of the world.

Localization is how the car figures out where it is in the world. We all have a GPS on our phones, but that is only accurate to about 1–2 meters. If a car were wrong by 1–2 meters, it could be driving off the freeway! So they have much more sophisticated mathematical algorithms to help the vehicle localize itself within 1–2 centimeters.

Path planning is after it knows what the world looks like, and where it is in the world. In this phase, it paths the trajectory through the world of where it wants to go. It must predict other vehicle movements, then maneuver where it wants to take in response to those other vehicles, and then, finally, build a trajectory, or path to execute that maneuver safely and comfortably.

Control is the final step in these core components. Once the car has all data from the past 4 steps, the vehicle now must control itself. It must accelerate, brake, and steer the predicted trajectory and a safely manner. It also most take into consideration the sudden movements of other cars, and react as fast as possible.

Is it Safe? Why? (Safety and Responsibility)

Roughly 94% of traffic accidents are caused by humans and human error. AVs can help reduce the percentage drastically. However, in 2018, there was an incident involving Uber and its AV trial runs. An autonomous Uber struck and killed a pedestrian. Also, a Tesla X Model owner lost his life in early 2018 white engaging in the car’s autopilot feature. These incidents may scare some people of not trusting AVs, but that doesn’t mean that developers can’t improve the safety of future AVs. Cars with advanced safety features will significantly reduce the number of collisions. Therefore less deaths from traffic accidents.

So yes, due to the technological advancements in safety features in AVs, they are safer than human-driven cars. Those were the only two recent accidents recorded in 2018 due to a failure in an AV program. There are also some technical issues that developers and engineers would have to put into consideration. Image recognition systems detect traffic signs. If people were to put stickers and them, or graffiti on them, it can confuse the system. In 2016, there were a lot of technical improvements in image recognition systems, and have given companies better results. Companies have even gone as far as trying to add voice recognition and voice commands into their AV. However, this is a very difficult task to accomplish. The system can be fooled by radios, outside citizens (if the windows are down), or hackers. Yes, hackers. They can send an advertising message to a radio station that contains an adversarial attack and affect the way your car operates. A main thing developers for AVs look at is safety and security. If there is a lot of AI and sensors and cameras, then they find ways to work around obstacles or strengthen its cybersecurity. If 94% of traffic accidents are caused by humans, and fully autonomous vehicles have no human driver, there is no space for human error. AVs are trustworthy when its comes to the passengers safety.

Companies Implementing AVs Now

When it comes to AVs, the first company you think of is (most likely) Tesla. Elon Musk’s beautiful creation of a car. However, there are many other companies that are trying to implement level 4 AVs into their company. Toyota is another brand that has been trying to use their data on drivers to see which cars would be good to implement these features on. Audi is working intensively to enable the vision of piloted driving to become a reality. They have been interested with the idea of AVs for 15 years. Mercedes-Benz also introduced autonomous steering, lane keeping, acceleration and braking, parking, and driver fatigue detection, all in 2014. Nissan has been working with some top universities, like MIT, to help engineer a top tier AV.

General Motors has invested about $500 million in Lyft to acquire self-driving vehicle technologies. Uber has also been doing experiments and trials with their vehicles. However, after the incident in 2018, some states have banned the testing of Uber AVs on public streets and highways. AVs change the game for public transportation systems, but also can cause the loss of employment for thousands. Taxi drivers, Uber drivers, and Lyft drivers might all lose their jobs to the advancement of transportation. But it is hard to tell whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.

The Future of AVs

There are a lot of possibilities with AVs. It can even go as far as lowering CO2 emissions, reducing congestion, and lower fuel consumption. Remember that self-driving technology can operate for anyone at any time. This means that AVs can help the elderly and disabled get around the world a lot easier. It doesn’t stop there. Not only will public transportation companies lose business, but it is possible for hotels and diners to lose business too. This is because passengers could eat and sleep in their car, on the go.

It’s no surprise that fully autonomous cars will have a massive impact on society worldwide. The look, the design (ex. no steering wheels, pedalsetc.) the interior and technology within it. There will (possibly) be no use for a drivers license, or car insurance because the roads will be 10x safer. Gas stations wont need to serve millions for gas. It’ll be a whole new world. Whats your opinions on this? Would a trust an AV? Do you think this is the next big thing in transportation? There are so many benefits, and so little — but pretty major — cons to an AV. It all just depends if society is ready for something as advanced as an AV.

Innovator @ TKS

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