With every year, more brands are introducing path breaking concepts to make driving automation an achievable and accessible reality. From self-driving cars to intuitive cruise control, it is certain that automation will only continue to get more advanced and impact the way we drive.
Before we dive into how far we’ve come to making this future a reality, let’s understand what an autonomous vehicle is. This is a term used to refer to any vehicle with the capability of operating itself and make necessary functions without the need for human intervention. All by sensing and analyzing its surroundings.
Even in more common cars without complete self-driving abilities, autonomous technology has made huge strides. Using Vehicular Ad-hoc networks, several cars can now accurately predict collisions, warn of other accidents ahead, road constructions, traffic signals and even highlight over speeding.
Taking things further, several car brands now also offer predictive braking and smart parking abilities to make the driving experience more seamless.
Companies like Waymo are leading the development of driverless technologies with cars having driven over 32 million kilometers without any human intervention. Contrary to assistive features like lane assist and adaptive cruise control that need constant human monitoring, companies like these are proving that we are closer than ever before to not even need someone in the driver’s seat.
Using LIDAR systems and 360 cameras have made driving automation even more effective over the past few years. Giving cars the ability to detect road cones, oncoming traffic, distance between cars, traffic lights and even trajectory of pedestrians. Truly addressing more safety concerns.
Autonomous Vehicle Platforms are also being used by several companies to integrate AI and machine learning into the driving experience. Helping cars not just drive by themselves, but learn how you would drive and make every drive more comfortable for each individual specifically. This technology is also being used to streamline delivery services and make transferring goods more efficient.
Another key point that most companies working with driving automation is a focus on efficiency and climate impact. Training softwares to help cars reduce emissions that perhaps would not always be possible for manual drivers.
We can say with some certainty that driving automation and autonomous vehicles are no longer concepts showcased in car shows. They are very much real and being integrated into more and more cars that come off the assembly line every year. In one way or another, the car you’re probably driving already is utilizing many of these technologies. Soon enough, driving will evolve from something you do to something your car does for you.
