Everything is smart: top innovations in the automotive sector
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Globally, most of the new technologies that are being tested today in the automotive sector are a gradual transition to smart transport or unmanned vehicles. And if even a decade ago such an idea might seem utopian, now no one doubts it can be accomplished. Especially since there are already successful precedents on the market. McKinsey predicts that by 2030, 15% of all new vehicles sold will be driven without driver assistance. Even in the less distant future — by 2020–10 million unmanned machines will be testing their practical usage, BI Intelligence experts estimate.
According to the classification of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the development of an Autonomous controlled vehicle can be divided into 5 levels. In fact, mankind has already mastered the first 3 levels. On the first, a machine independently controls any one action (for example, cruise control). On the second — it can move by itself on a predetermined route (just like, for example, the Tesla autopilot). The third level assumes that the car independently performs maneuvers (for example, lane switching). There are already examples of such cars. According to the report of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of the state of California for 2017, the best results in this matter were reached by the company Waymo, owned by Google. Drivers of these cars had to intervene in the operation of the autopilot an average of 1 every 9 thousand miles. November of last year was the most successful for Waymo, when in 50 thousand kilometers the driver had to take control of the car only once.
The last two levels: fully autonomous movement on a large area and drones that do not need an operator — have not yet been reached. But this is what most automotive companies are working on today, and not only that. Great hopes, for example, are placed on the system of communication between cars and cars with surrounding infrastructure objects.
V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) systems (communication between cars) are needed, first of all, in order to reduce the risk of an accident. V2V works by using wireless signals between cars, giving them the opportunity to share information about your location, speed and direction of movement. This information is shared with all surrounding vehicles to keep a safe distance between them.
In addition, the technology transmits to the car information from traffic lights, traffic signs, traffic intensity, which will also contribute to safe driving.
Mass introduction of unmanned vehicles helps to reduce the number of accidents. The first accident with a self-driving car in which the driver was killed, happened after Tesla cars drove over 200 million kilometers. For regular cars the statistics in the US is one accident with a fatal outcome for every 97 million kilometers. And this, of course, is not the only benefit that unmanned cars will bring to society. Also, unmanned vehicles will reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere, transform the appearance of cities and generally change the culture of driving.
