autonomous cars research report pdf (1)

8/19/2019 Autonomous Cars Research Report PDF (1)

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/autonomous-cars-research-report-pdf-1 1/3

Silvia Rodriguez

Will Autonomous Cars appear in the market in a near future?

Automatic cars, self-driven cars, robotic cars… all of these terms refer to cars which can drive from

one place to another without any human interaction at all. What appeared to be science fiction a

few years ago, has now been seen in roads at testing processes and have been approved by several

states in USA. Will they eventually be approved by every single country in the world and finally

substitute what we know as manual cars nowadays? The main purposes of this evolutionary project

and how they could make the world better are: reaching the potential case of having no traffic

accidents in the roads (saving the lives of many people), reducing car congestion, achieving higher

speed limits, reducing fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions… Endless benefits;

nevertheless, there are numerous companies such as Google, Apple, Ford, Mercedez-Benz, Tesla

and others who have been years developing the technology required to make these vehicles safe

enough to be sold to the public.

Firstly, the key element to automated cars is to detect objects around them and always sustain a

certain distance. Additionally, in the case of interaction between automated and manual cars, if a

human error occurs, automated cars would ideally have no reacting-time delays. They work through

a combination of technological advances, mainly sensors. First of all, they have radars to detect

entities by transmitting radio and micro waves which get reflected on the nearby objects. These

reflected waves are what determine where that object is in physical space. Furthermore, automated

cars make use of video cameras to identify traffic lights and road signs as well as watching out for

pedestrians or others. Moreover, LIDAR sensors (Light Detection And R aging) are very important

to detect obstacles on the road by sending pulses of light into the surroundings near the car. Also,

having a very clear orientation system is essential; automated cars have very high-resolution GPS

(Global Positioning System) to know very precisely the location of the car. Finally, there is a

central computer installed which receives the data from these sensors and makes the car act

accordingly.

(1) Image of what an automated car would “see” while making a left turn according to Bill Gross on a Tweet



Silvia Rodriguez

However, as we can see, there are very high demands to make these cars work 100% effectively

and so there are numerous specific designs and technical problems yet to overcome before making

them purchasable to any user. The first flaw is the need of more precise maps and to make sure that

these maps are up-to-date all the time. TomTom along with Bosch, are working together to provide

this mappings good enough for the cars to be safe. As claimed by TomTom (2), by the end of the

year 2020 they want to cover all freeways and freeway-like roads in Germany before eventually

expanding to Europe and North America with a precision down to a decimetre. A second

improvement is their ability to drive in difficult weather conditions such as rain, snow or heavy

fog. According to an article in The Telegraph (3), “Little testing has been done outside the

temperate Californian climate” and hence is not ready to circulate outside similar environments. In

addition, there is yet further progress required in the sensing field; automated cars cannot

distinguish between a dangerous and a harmless condition. On one hand, the car cannot sense an

object the size of a sharp nail- and running over it can be very dangerous. On the other side, the car

can detect objects the size of big leaves or a plastic bag and will believe it to be a potential threat

and apply the brakes suddenly where there is no need. This distinction is natural for human instinct

but has yet not been solved for self-driven cars. Finally, there are other flaws such as not being able

to interpret noise indications such as emergency sirens, cost increasing up to £7000 higher than the

price of a manual car though this would eventually decrease to £2000 by the year 2035 (4) or thefact that they cannot understand traffic policemen’s indications.

Apart from all these yet-to-overcome flaws, there is the sufficient technology to make these cars a

potential solution as a means to maximise safety and efficiency in the roads. So what will the next

advances be? As soon as 2016, Mercedes (5) and Mobileye (6) are “expected to release hands-free

driving technology for highways". By 2018, Tesla Motors will have developed a version of fully

automatic cars up to a point where the person inside the car can even fall asleep (7). Two years

after that, by 2020, Google’s self-driven car project should be ready (8) - they have already started

the testing in Californian streets. One after the other, the most famous car companies will be

releasing their own models of automated cars where, according to expert members of the IEEE

(Electrical and Electronics Engineers), by 2040, 75% of all cars will be autonomous. This meansthat we already have these robotic cars driving in particular streets and that we are only one year

away to see some of them on the highways. Possibly, in less than 25 years, most of us will no longer

own a manual car but will form part of the artificial-intelligent car’s world.

To conclude, the world suffers from excessively high carbon dioxide emission and fuel

consumption. The mechanics of these cars along with the accuracy and precision while driving will

reduce such immoderations. However, the main purpose of automatic cars is for safety- to decrease

the death rate caused by traffic accidents as close as zero. We suffer millions of deaths globally

every year. Our status quo and the competing solution of these cars are the use of manual cars, who

will eventually decrease more and more as these cars evolution in the same way other advances

have done with technology. Eventually, it is highly likely that the autonomous vehicles will appearin the market in a near future.



Silvia Rodriguez

Bibliography

(1) Bill Gross. Google's Self-Driving Car gathers almost 1 GB per SECOND. Here's what it "sees" makinga left turn. [Twitter]. 29 April 2013. [Accessed 06 December 2015]. Available from:

https://twitter.com/Bill_Gross/status/329069954911580160/photo/1

(2) Jacob Kastrenakes. TomTom is now making maps for autonomous vehicles [Internet]. 27th August 2015.

Available from: http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/27/9048027/tomtom-bosch-autonomous-vehicle-mapping

(3) Josie Ensor. The 7 kinks that need to be worked out before driverless cars go global [Internet]. 1 st

February 2015. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/11381433/The-7-kinks-that-

need-to-be-worked-out-before-driverless-cars-go-global.html

(4)Chuck Tannert. Will you ever be able to afford a self-driving car? [Internet]. 31st January 2014. Availablefrom: http://www.fastcompany.com/3025722/will-you-ever-be-able-to-afford-a-self-driving-car

(5) "Mercedes-Benz to Introduce Autobahn Pilot Assistant in Two Years". Autoevolution. 11 November

2013. Retrieved 20 October 2014.

(6) "Mobileye Automated Driving". YouTube. Mobileye. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.

(7) Wikipedia. Automated Cars. [Online]. 4th December 2015. [Accessed 6th December 2015]. Available

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Potential_obstacles

(8) "Google Talking to Auto Makers About Self-Driving Car". Wall Street Journal. 13 May 2014.

Retrieved 20 February 2015.

If this report were published on The Briefing - I would want this article to be attributed to me.

autonomous cars research report pdf (1)

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