As the automotive industry continues to expand and grow in technology ranging from Electric Cars (EVs) to Software updates and upgrades, there is another element that is fast rising; and that is self driving car technology.
Pioneered by the likes of Google with their Waymo car project and Tesla. We have seen a lot of advancements in this area. Waymo has recently been green lit in areas in the United States with more and more taxis/ubers being made driverless.
The Safety Aspect
It raises this thought in my head; is the mainstream world ready for this technology? How will it be managed and monitored from a safety perspective as there have been reported fatalities from this technology. If say 40% of the cars on road are automated and driverless, they have to self regulate, update and self correct using Machine Learning to avoid accidents with manned vehicles, and find a way to communicate with each other through some form of a network to learn from each other as well. Keeping in mind that all of this needs to happen in real time.
What type of infrastructure and expertise will be required to build a system like this?
We have always seen in futuristic sci-fi movies, the portrayal of what an AI-driven, fully automated car looks like. Is that a reality we now face in years to come? Adding on to the fact that even more and more companies are producing electric variants of certain models of their cars.
MKBHD made a video highlighting Tesla’s self driving capabilities and it gave a lot of insight into just how far we are from fully autonomous cars that may not even require human input as at the moment, it does require human intervention at certain times.
We live in a world where virtual reality worlds now exist and are being accessed with devices such as the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest, and as technology advances very rapidly in the AI space, it is only a matter of time before the age of full autonomy and AI-driver input is upon us.
Are we ready for that world?
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