How Self-Driving Cars Work

Imagine laying in bed watching your favorite movie, playing your favorite video game, or listening to your favorite song. Now, imagine that on your way to work or to the store. Self driving cars could make this a possibility. We have been tinkering with ideas for autonomous vehicles for almost a century and a few companies have even been successful in designing a fully functioning self driving car. Roads full of these video game-esque cars controlled by artificial intelligence or other means of autonomy may not be as distant in the future as one might think. This, being a drastic change in the way we travel, could cause many issues. Due to these potential issues, it is in our best interest to raise questions before we implement these technologies. One possible question is: have we thought out any ramifications this might cause, and if so, do we have an approach to fix them?

    Driverless vehicles, or the self-driving car, is defined as any car with features that allow it to accelerate, brake, and steer a car’s course with limited or no driver interaction (BI Intelligence par.4). When most people hear the term “driverless vehicle”, people instantly think cars that drive all by themselves, meaning that the vehicles are able to completely control themselves while the driver can sit back in the driver’s seat as if they were the passenger. The reality is that it will actually be a few years before fully self-automated vehicles will make their debut on the road, but for now the car companies and manufacturers are adding self-driving features of the latest models of cars. For example, the 2016 BMW i3 has the capability to self-park itself without the need of the driver to control the steering wheel. This reduces the risk of the driver hitting another vehicle while

Imagine being able to get into your car and simply typing in your desired destination, and then reclining your seat to watch a movie or text a friend. During this time, the car is basically driving itself. Well, soon this may be possible this invention is called an autonomous car. An autonomous car, or driverless/ robotic car, is a car that is designed to drive without human interference. Essentially, drivers can program their destination into the car’s GPS system and then sit back and relax. Some of the world’s largest car companies are currently creating autonomous vehicles, such as Audi, Toyota, Volvo, Mercedes, and countless others. The driverless vehicle is now becoming a clearer and more present reality, and has been discussed and planned for decades. The autonomous vehicle offers significant benefits, but raises many questions and difficulties.

Vehicles that drive themselves is a concept that is often thought about in futuristic movies or science fiction novels. Throughout, history mankind has been fascinated with robots and cars that could work without humans. Advanced technology is getting closer to making these futuristic ideas the real thing. Living in an advanced technological time would society be ready for this to happen and how far away is this from becoming a reality?

Current Advantages—According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (2016), “The Nation lost 35,092 people in crashes on U.S. roadways during 2015, an increase from 32,744 in 2014.” Self-driving cars would eliminate driver error, which is primarily caused by alcohol, drugs, and aggressive driving (Naughton, 2016). Other forms of driver error include texting and driving, not looking in your blind spot, running a red light and not figuring out who has the right of way.

In the year 2013, 3,154 people were killed due to distracted driver related crashes. Motor vehicle accidents are the number two leading cause of preventable deaths. Once driverless cars are put onto the streets, these numbers would decrease drastically. Imagine losing your loved one due to a teenager that was drunk or texting while driving. Self-driving cars cannot drink behind the wheel nor take a text back their best friend. Not only does accident collisions happen due to distracted driving but also angry drivers. Some drivers can be very aggressive on the road. With the addition of driverless cars, road rage drivers can be eliminated from society. Speeding drivers are also a very high cause of accidents and innocent pedestrians being hit. Driverless cars are equipped to follow the rules of the road and keep the streets safe

Over the past few years, car manufacturers have enhanced technology features to make cars safer, to reduce the number of accidents, and promote driver awareness. As we tend to think of self driving cars as a great advancement in technology that will create a more enjoyable driving experience, we must also take into consideration the disadvantages and problems that

Self-driving cars are very useful in many ways. For example, self-driving cars can prevent crashes because most crashes are because of human error, and there are no ways for a self- driving car can get “distracted”. However, self-driving cars have some limitations to what they can do, and makers can access to these situations quite easily.

For decades the thought of a car that could drive itself has been a model of the future, but now, that model is becoming a reality. The potential benefits of adding an autonomous vehicle (AV) to the roadways are limitless, they span from improved safety to the convenience and luxury of the driver. Companies have already gained the right to test their cars in certain states. Once proven safe, the public will slowly but surely integrate autonomous vehicles into their lives. Autonomous cars will be a substantial benefit to society because they improve automobile safety, efficiency, and the overall convenience of the vehicle.

In order for the cars to work, there are many systems that work together.Radar sensors are there to monitor the position of the cars nearby. Lidar systems to detect edges of roads and identify land markings by bouncing pulses of light off car’s surroundings.

“Self-driving means the autonomous driving of a vehicle to a specific target in real traffic without the intervention of a human driver.” (Daimler, NP) Autonomous vehicles are changing the face of driving. No-longer are humans needed for hauling a payload across the country, or driving people to and from their homes, places of business, or various

Self driving cars have been a dream to have but now that they are getting closer to be in your garage, there is many more problems than anticipated for the companies to look for. Its not only the companies that are looking for the problems but also lawmakers and citizens. They are looking at this from every side and point of view to make it all happen one day. After analyzing three sources I learned a lot more about three topics that need to be addressed before these cars take the road. If a crash happens, who takes the blame? How can the cars detect human traffic? And, how will this effect law makers? The main policy problem is if they looking at every possible scenario or not. If they are, can these problems be solved to put the autonomous

Self-driving cars are on the way. Soon, you’ll be able to purchase a fully autonomous vehicle, jump in and leave the driving to computers. Play games, read a book or recline your seat and nap — your self-driving car will transport you safely to your journey’s end.

However self-driving cars have a number of issues to be addressed before it is being rolled for public usage. For example, self-driving cars will still need to be piloted by human drivers as the public feels much safer and also reliable due to the driver taking over when the cars malfunction. As shown in the Johannes Weyer, Robin D. Fink, Fabian Adelt (2015) research, “individuals wanted to have more choices to take control over their vehicles, and also some concerns regarding reliability of their vehicles”. Another issue is also the security of the self-driving car. Possibilities of it getting hacked is another hurdle. A virus could easily disrupt sensors or even cause disruptions to key infrastructural systems. As stated by Hickey (2012),

Self-driving vehicles sense their surroundings using radar, GPS and computer vision. Advanced control systems interpret the information to identify navigation paths, obstacles and road signage. Some of these vehicles can update their maps, allowing the vehicle to keep track of their position when conditions change.