Self-driving cars

Tesla, Waymo and Comma.ai self-driving efforts

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”

— Henry Ford

In some ways, self-driving cars are robots that require solving both hardware and software problems. A self-driving car needs to identify its surrounding environment with cameras, radar, or other instruments. Its software needs to understand what is around it, know the physical location of the car, and plan the next steps that it needs to take to reach its destination.

Many companies currently build technology for autonomous cars as well as others just entering the field. But I focus on the three most transformative players in the space: Tesla, Waymo, and Comma.ai. Each of these companies tackles the problem with very different approaches.

Tesla

Tesla, founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003, is known as the Apple of cars because of its revolutionary car design and for thinking outside the box when creating its vehicles. Tesla develops its cars based on first principles, from the air conditioning system that uses perpendicular vents to how they form their chassis and suspension. With its innovation and work, the Tesla Model 3 is the safest car in the world…