- Image Credit: Dana A. Shams/Gulf News
Cars that drive themselves? A few years ago, this would have been science
fiction. Not so far-fetched now.
Aircrafts have had a autopilot for a long time now. In fact, a lot of the
technology such as cameras, sensors, radars and imaging systems required to
build truly autonomous vehicles are already available.
Multiple experimental vehicles are being tested for varying levels of
operational autonomy. Google’s technology has driven a Toyota Prius over 300,000
kilometres around the US without a single technology caused accident. General
Motors, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW and Volvo are all testing their own
full or partial autonomous systems.
Volvo has launched the ‘autonomous valet parking cars’ in Europe. Nissan
recently committed to launch an ‘Autonomous Drive’ system by 2020. The
transition is inevitable. We do expect it to happen in a building block form
like advanced driver assistance systems, park assist systems, or integrated
vehicle health monitoring and autonomous systems
Moving from Point A to Point B involves planning and decision-making about
mode of transport, routes, times, safety, comfort, weather, luxury and
convenience. However, it is a fact that a significant percentage of road
accidents stem from human errors. Making vehicles autonomous globally could be
around $300-400 billion of economic impact if you take into account loss of
human life, their economic impact to the society and the allied
claims.
There is a lot to be gained by removing humans from driving. There is no
reason that technology cannot make roads driver-free as seen in cases of
trains/locomotives and aircrafts in autopilot mode.
The question is can we make it affordable, safer and easy to use and bound by
regulations which itself is evolving? Nevertheless, the sheer number of people
around the globe who will be affected by autonomous vehicles is
staggering.
Apart from the primary technology required to actually build a road-safe
autonomous vehicle, we can safely foresee huge regulatory and infrastructure
challenges. Autonomous vehicles make more sense only if the infrastructure also
enables it. Just like electric vehicles required an ecosystem of charging points
that could quickly charge a vehicle without bringing down the grid, new
infrastructure requirements such as intelligent traffic lights, smart lanes with
sensors and automated parking infrastructure will accelerate the adoption of
autonomous vehicles.
Countries conform to their own traffic rules and implement their own safety
regulation. Any autonomous vehicle system must be ready to be tested and
certified on any safety regulation around the globe. This is a massive
challenge. Companies must be ready to programme and tailor their intelligent
drive systems for different geographies which suit different cultures.
Also, such vehicles bring in a certain amount of threat to personal privacy.
Autonomous vehicles are built with advanced sensing and tracking capabilities
and are constantly monitored. While this feature is intended to complement
vehicle performance, we cannot overlook the fact that this may create new
security concerns and lend itself to commercial misuse.
Finally, there is the challenge of customer adoption. Will consumers adopt
something that will change a fundamental way of life? Can someone give up
driving as a passion? This final hurdle could well be the biggest one, but at
the same time, everyone can enjoy the pleasure of being seated in the driver’s
seat calmly without getting ruffled by the chaos of traffic.
Fuel efficiency has always been a USP for the automotive industry. Autonomous
vehicles can provide better fuel efficiency because they are equipped with
intelligent technologies that enable this.
Safety is one segment where autonomous vehicle can make their biggest impact.
By eliminating human intervention altogether, autonomous cars with the proper
intelligent infrastructure can reduce road accidents significantly.
Additionally, autonomous vehicles are believed to have the potential to
shorten travel time and improve traffic flow. They can free up valuable driving
time and enable car owners to complete other tasks while on the move or merely
enjoy the ride.
How will the industry change? Technologically speaking, would a driverless
car look like the cars of today? For instance, in a completely driverless car,
do we need a steering wheel? Companies also need to think about how other
innovations like fuel cells and nanotechnology can complement such autonomous
vehicle even while reducing the cost.
Whatever the changes the industry can expect, we can safely assume that the
role of ‘intelligence’ within such cars will be significantly greater than what
they are today. Automotive companies must partner with companies that can help
develop, test and implement this intelligence into the vehicles. Or could this
create a new industry by itself?
The automotive industry has already been adapting to this change. It started
with the inclusion and integration of electronics and Artificial Intelligence
into cars.
Next-generation cars include electronics in everything from braking systems,
engine system, power train, body controls to infotainment, enabled with advanced
driver assist systems integrating with multiple types of sensor inputs, radar
and image fusion and analytics. System architecture, aystem integration and
system testing would be more challenging than ever before.
For autonomous vehicles to become a reality, these requirements will only
increase. What is needed is a more agile automotive ecosystem that must create
and adopt technology faster than before.
— The writer is the head for integrated engineering solutions at Tech
Mahindra.
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