Autonomous Cars: The Mystery in Technology

Here we present to you the Technology involved in autonomous cars

Autonomous cars aim to operate without any human involvement. However, the technology that enables cars to be autonomous is still a mystery to common people. There are also several levels that autonomous cars follow.

Although current Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) provide important safety functions such as pre-collision warnings, steering assistance, and automatic braking, self-driving vehicles take these technologies to the next level by completely removing the need for a driver.

Levels of Autonomy

There are various levels of autonomy that can be seen in these cars. At the lowest level, the automated system has no control over the vehicle but may prompt the driver of hazards. On the next level, the driver and the automated system share control of the vehicle. On a further advanced level, the automated system is capable of taking full control of the vehicle. However, the driver must be ready to intervene if the system fails to recognize a potential hazard. To the next level, the automated system takes full control of the vehicle and the passenger can safely take their attention away from driving tasks, but they must still be able to intervene. At the next advanced level, drivers can safely divert all attention away from driving tasks and let the automated system take full control. This functionality is currently limited to specific areas and other relatively controlled environments. On the latest level, no human intervention is required.

Sensor Technology

Sensor systems are rapidly evolving to meet the demands of expanded autonomous-vehicle operations, including radar, lidar, and cameras. The gradual introduction of autonomous driving will come about through the tempered deployment of self-driving capabilities. Increasing levels of capabilities starting from driver assistance to eventually fully autonomous cars will be deployed in progressive stages, as the markets warm up to autonomous capabilities, the price points drop, and the technologies mature. Advances in image recognition from deep-learning techniques have made it possible to create a high-fidelity model of the world around the vehicle.

Network Infrastructure

Rapid and consistent connectivity between autonomous vehicles and outside sources such as cloud infrastructure ensures signals get to and from the vehicles more quickly. The emergence of 5G wireless technology, which promises high-speed connections and data downloads, is expected to improve connectivity to these vehicles, enabling a wide range of services from videoconferencing and real-time participation in gaming to health care capabilities such as health monitoring. Self-driving vehicles employ a wide range of technologies like radar, cameras, ultrasound, and radio antennas to navigate safely on our roads.

In modern autonomous vehicles, these technologies are used in conjunction with one another, as each one provides a layer of autonomy that helps make the entire system more reliable and robust. Tesla's driverless car technology, known as "Autopilot", uses eight cameras to provide 360-degree visibility, while twelve ultrasonic sensors and a front-facing radar work to analyze the vehicle's surroundings for potential hazards. However, one key component still in development that will ultimately make autonomous cars more reliable is the implementation of 5G cellular networks.