Autonomous Cars:
Where did they come from? Where are they going?
Self driving cars, autonomous cars, driverless cars — whatever you wanna call them, are quickly making their way into our everyday lives. These vehicles are capable of using GPS, LIDAR, powerful computers and cameras to sense our environment and navigate our motorways without any of our biased human input. When did this happen you ask? Well quite surprisingly, the first demonstrative autonomous car appeared in the 1984 with Carnegie Mellon University’s NavLab and ALV projects.
NavLab 1:
It was built using a (now ancient) Chevy panel van, it had five giant racks of computer hardware and could only achieve a top speed of 20 miles per hour. Considering the tech available back then, that was a pretty impressive feat. The latest of the NavLab iterations is currently number 11 — a 2000 Jeep Wrangler fitted with GPS, proximity laser scanners, gyroscopes, magno-meters and omnidirectional cameras. This iteration is representative of the leaps and bounds this technology has made in only a little more than 30 years.
Navlab 11 full specs can be seen here: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/alv/www/
In 2015 the University of Michigan opened a 32-acre world-class test facility for autonomous vehicles. This research done at this test facility aims to decrease odds of collisions, improve vehicle to vehicle real-time communication, improve traffic flow and make the technology as safe as possible. Research is even being done to facilitate vehicle to traffic signal communication to optimize safety and efficiency in traffic flow, perhaps even predict accidents and stop them.
There are models of cars on the market now that offer partial autonomous driving mode, Tesla being one of the most famous — recently a driver was killed when Teslas cameras failed to register a large white transport truck, this highlights the need for improved software and hardware but we are quickly closing that already narrow safety gap. The beautiful thing about technology today is that there are usually DIY and open source versions of mainstream products; one such example is open-pilot. It is available right now on github for those interested in helping contribute to the codebase or those interested in downloading and testing the software themselves with their own vehicles.
Open-source user test:
GitHub pages: https://github.com/commaai/openpilot (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
When considering nexts steps for this technology in the even further future, it must be noted that top commercial airline manufacturers are currently researching and looking to implement autonomous aircraft. The current CEO of airbus is setting sights on a first iteration by the end of this year [2017]. Noone can truly know what the future holds for this technology; though I personally envision my future morning commute as a quiet ride in a high-speed electric vehicle where I’m able to have my coffee, do some work on my laptop, and stay blissfully unaware of the traffic outside. Lack of human error will make for a safer ride, will lead to higher speed limits and more efficient commutes. Looking even further into the future, many experts see this tech taking over air travel and even space flight! I hope you’ll join me in embracing this fascinating new tech!