Term of the Moment
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Redirected from: driverless car
Definition: self-driving car
A motor vehicle that drives itself. Also called an "autonomous vehicle" and "driverless car," self-driving cars depend heavily on AI to navigate the road.
The Concept Goes Back Decades
Self-driving cars date back to the 1939 World's Fair in New York when General Motors predicted the development of radio-controlled electric cars. As TVs and modern appliances emerged in the 1950s, more predictions of self-driving cars debuted. In the 1980s, experiments detecting the lines in the road were performed in the U.S. and Europe.
DARPA Started It
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) jump-started the industry. In 2004, it offered rewards for the winners of a 150-mile self-driving race in California's Mojave Desert. No vehicle completed the course, but 22 out of 23 finished the next race in 2005 with more curves and narrower roads. In 2007, six teams completed a 60-mile run through urban streets, and four years later, Nevada was the first state to legalize self-driving cars.
Why Self-Driving?
Accident avoidance is the major incentive because computers can respond to dangerous situations a thousand times faster than a human. In addition, people can arrive at their destination more relaxed after a long trip. The ultimate manifestation is the reduction of vehicles. For example, self-driving taxis can replace a second car, or a family's self-driving car may take everyone to work, pick them up at the end of the day and be available throughout the day for others to use; a far better allocation of resources than the tens of millions of cars sitting idle all day in employee parking lots.
Getting Better All the Time
In the U.S., more than 30 thousand people are killed in automobile accidents every year, and if thousands of lives can be saved, self-driving cars will be a huge benefit. However, there have been several deaths as well as thousands of accidents in self-driving cars. Drivers are supposed to be attentive in self-driving mode, but they often fail to stay alert or fall asleep on long trips.
Self-Driving Taxis Are Here
In 2016, Uber and MIT spinoff NuTonomy began self-driving taxi trials in various cities, but engineers were present to take over when necessary. In order to give passengers the full driverless experience, there was no conversation. However, in 2017, NuTonomy was acquired by automotive company Aptiv, and Uber sold its Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) in 2020 to Aurora, an autonomous vehicle startup.
The Transition to Driverless Cars
Along with the huge technology challenge, state laws are changing. Predictions abound that 20% or more of all vehicles worldwide will be driverless by 2040. As that unfolds, the infrastructure is also expected to change over the coming decades. For example, road signs, traffic lights and the very roads themselves are expected to communicate with vehicles (see V2X). In addition, personal ownership of family cars is expected to decline (see TaaS).
Automobiles With Their Own Satellites
Starting in 2022 and with an expected total of more than 70 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites, Chinese aerospace company Geespace provides centimeter-level accuracy for Geely self-driving cars in more than 20 countries. Geely, China's second largest automaker, and Geespace are owned by parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (ZGH).
In the Meantime
As a result of all the self-driving R&D, accident prevention in all new cars is increasingly more advanced and a boon to road safety (see automotive safety systems). See self-driving truck, self-driving taxi, autonomous racing, autonomous vehicle levels, semiautonomous vehicle, virtual traffic lights, e-highway and automotive systems.
Self-Driving Add-On
What the Car Sees
Tesla Autopilot
Sensing Technologies
First Self-Propelled Vehicle (1478)
The Concept Goes Back Decades
Self-driving cars date back to the 1939 World's Fair in New York when General Motors predicted the development of radio-controlled electric cars. As TVs and modern appliances emerged in the 1950s, more predictions of self-driving cars debuted. In the 1980s, experiments detecting the lines in the road were performed in the U.S. and Europe.
DARPA Started It
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) jump-started the industry. In 2004, it offered rewards for the winners of a 150-mile self-driving race in California's Mojave Desert. No vehicle completed the course, but 22 out of 23 finished the next race in 2005 with more curves and narrower roads. In 2007, six teams completed a 60-mile run through urban streets, and four years later, Nevada was the first state to legalize self-driving cars.
Why Self-Driving?
Accident avoidance is the major incentive because computers can respond to dangerous situations a thousand times faster than a human. In addition, people can arrive at their destination more relaxed after a long trip. The ultimate manifestation is the reduction of vehicles. For example, self-driving taxis can replace a second car, or a family's self-driving car may take everyone to work, pick them up at the end of the day and be available throughout the day for others to use; a far better allocation of resources than the tens of millions of cars sitting idle all day in employee parking lots.
Getting Better All the Time
In the U.S., more than 30 thousand people are killed in automobile accidents every year, and if thousands of lives can be saved, self-driving cars will be a huge benefit. However, there have been several deaths as well as thousands of accidents in self-driving cars. Drivers are supposed to be attentive in self-driving mode, but they often fail to stay alert or fall asleep on long trips.
Self-Driving Taxis Are Here
In 2016, Uber and MIT spinoff NuTonomy began self-driving taxi trials in various cities, but engineers were present to take over when necessary. In order to give passengers the full driverless experience, there was no conversation. However, in 2017, NuTonomy was acquired by automotive company Aptiv, and Uber sold its Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) in 2020 to Aurora, an autonomous vehicle startup.
The Transition to Driverless Cars
Along with the huge technology challenge, state laws are changing. Predictions abound that 20% or more of all vehicles worldwide will be driverless by 2040. As that unfolds, the infrastructure is also expected to change over the coming decades. For example, road signs, traffic lights and the very roads themselves are expected to communicate with vehicles (see V2X). In addition, personal ownership of family cars is expected to decline (see TaaS).
Automobiles With Their Own Satellites
Starting in 2022 and with an expected total of more than 70 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites, Chinese aerospace company Geespace provides centimeter-level accuracy for Geely self-driving cars in more than 20 countries. Geely, China's second largest automaker, and Geespace are owned by parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (ZGH).
In the Meantime
As a result of all the self-driving R&D, accident prevention in all new cars is increasingly more advanced and a boon to road safety (see automotive safety systems). See self-driving truck, self-driving taxi, autonomous racing, autonomous vehicle levels, semiautonomous vehicle, virtual traffic lights, e-highway and automotive systems.
Founded in 2013, Cruise Automation made self-driving kits for Audis. Three years later, General Motors acquired the company to turn the Chevy Bolt into an autonomous vehicle. (Image courtesy of Cruise Automation Inc.)
Self-driving computers are processing billions of operations per second to identify and catalog their surroundings as in this example. See NVIDIA DRIVE. (Image courtesy of NVIDIA Corporation.)
Renamed Self-Driving (Supervised), in 2017, Tesla Autopilot shows the driver what it detects in the environment. It is the first self-driving option in a production car, but drivers must keep their hands on the wheel. Autopilot automatically changes lanes and parallel parks. Tesla also has a Full Self-Driving (FSD) option that completely drives the car and even finds an empty space in a parking lot. See semiautonomous vehicle.
Self-driving cars can use a combination of cameras, radar, LIDAR and sound to detect the lanes and objects on the road, and this chart shows their usefulness from worst (red) to best (green). Newer Teslas use only cameras. See radar and LIDAR. (Image courtesy of Phantom Intelligence.)
Hardly self-driving but a first nonetheless. In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci used coiled springs to make a self-propelled vehicle. Although revolutionary, it never worked all that well. This replica is in IBM's conference center in Palisades, New York.