Driver-less Cars & the possibilities

Self-driving vehicles, a future that’s not so distant. Traffic these days consist primarily of independent drivers, some that can manage the road system while others struggle to notice oncoming traffic causing collisions. If you’re like me who nearly gets mowed down by traffic due to dangerous driving or just not looking where we’re going then this might not mean much to you! However, if you’re interested in the future of technology just keep reading.

To some degree I expect you all to be skeptical, just wondering how an autonomous vehicle would work. There are many aspects that the software driving the car would have to take into account, such as road works for example or the distance between traffic. Compared to traffic these days there is a much larger risk of collision and us most often here about death surrounding this. During 2009 Google submitted plans for the first autonomous with a deadline expected as early as 2020, yet we’re only 3 years off, previously known as the Google self-driving car project it is now known as Waymo (A new way forward in mobility) which is now being developed by an independent company under Alphabet Inc. Safety is always a priority yet Google call it the safest car yet which is “always alert and never distracted”.

Google isn’t the only company to invest in driverless cars, Tesla is also in the race only to hit a snag, on the 5th April 2016 Teslas autopilot enthusiast was killed when the car collided with a truck, the victim was 40-year-old Joshua Brown, from Canton, Ohio. Most crashes are usually caused by human error, however, in this case, was caused by the auto-evade function which tried to evade traffic cones yet instead plowed into the side of an oncoming truck which has now taken Tesla back to the drawing board as the vehicle didn't recognise the truck's presence. Tesla described the accident as an anomaly. "Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied,"

Autopilot is Teslas first attempt at driverless vehicle technology, the Model S tells drivers to keep their hands on the wheel at all times, however, the car is usually able to navigate by itself as long as there's a clear highway. Due to the news of this unfortunate accident, it could essentially dent investors confidence in Tesla. Considering the possibilities of this technology I doubt Elon Musk or any other future developers will give up on this technology as it's still groundbreaking and will change the future of motors everywhere.

#Carindustry #Technology #Google #Tesla