Hype Around Autonomous Vehicles And Why It Is Needed So Desperately?

In recent years, digital abilities have become more evolved, with the introduction of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) features. By focusing on innovations that are aimed at improving cost, convenience, and safety, the automotive industry is working to develop fully autonomous vehicles that can drive themselves in all traffic conditions without a human operator.

The autonomous vehicle market is segmented based on the level of automation, component, application, and region. Based on the level of automation, the market is divided into level 3, level 4, and level 5. By component, it is classified into hardware, software, and service. The applications discussed in this study are civil, robot-taxi, ride-hail, rideshare, a self-driving truck, and self-driving bus. Based on the region, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA.

According to Allied Market Research, the global autonomous vehicle market size is projected to be valued at 54.23 billion dollars in 2019 and is anticipated to generate 556.67 billion dollars by 2026, recording a huge rise of 39.47% from 2019 to 2026. Giant automobile manufacturers like Audi, BMW and Ford have invested in ambitious projects involving autonomous cars to capture market growth. According to sources, Apple is suggested to be working on a secretive autonomous-car project for a long time. Other Tech companies such as Google, and Tesla also are not far back behind, even they are exploring the idea of autonomous vehicles.

Technology that constructs an autonomous vehicle

A whirling laser range finder mounted on top of the car. This system works by measuring the distance of its surroundings by bouncing its 64 lasers off of objects as it spins 360 degrees. It reads up to 1.3 million points per second, accurate to 2cm within a radius of 120 meters.
GPS satellites and triangulation of the received radio signals, we can find out where we are in the world. Google’s self-driving car also includes an additional nifty gadget called the wheel encoder to measure lateral movement from the left rear wheel. GPS and the other components are designed to be only accurate within a few meters and unfortunately, a few meters are a big difference.
Google Maps for self-driving cars work even better. Researchers are adding another layer of mapping and map alignment, so imagine the entire map rotating to fit the raw data of your surroundings. If you can’t solve mapping via just lasers, just throw one of the best map systems in the world at it.

Digital video cameras are mounted, slightly separated by a known distance, around the exterior of the car. The high-performance stereo cameras typically have 50 degrees FOV and accuracy up to 30 meters. Self-driving cars use a combination of sensors and devices which gauge its position on a dynamic 3-D map, virtually created to ply upon.

These highly advanced automobiles work on a conglomerate of features including Artificial Intelligence and Light Detection & Ranging. One of the crucial reasons for going to the length of creating a self-driving car is to make the roadways safer. Even though self-driving cars are at an early stage of achieving perfection, they have paved a way for lesser chances of fatal errors.

Companies that are in advance stages of developing autonomous vehicles

1. Apple is also currently testing a fleet of Lexus RX450h SUVs equipped with racks of LIDAR and radar sensors in California.
2. Uber has spent more than 1 billion dollars on its autonomous vehicle unit. Uber unveiled its latest self-driving car a modified Volvo XC90 that mixes human controls including steering wheels and brake pedals with automated installed steering and braking systems
3. Waymo appears to be leading to get driverless cars on the road. The Alphabet subsidiary became the first company to offer a commercial robot-taxi service using driverless technology when it launched Waymo One.
4. Tesla’s Model S to be a very sophisticated computer on wheels the hardware exists to create full autonomy, so it’s really about developing advanced, narrow AI for the car to operate on. The Autopilot development focus is on increasingly complex neural nets that can perform in reasonably sized computers in the car
5. Renaults NEXT TWO combines driverless operations and hyper-connectivity. The car uses an advanced driver assistance system.

Autonomous cars making transportation smoother

Researchers and policymakers want to decrease the risk by making roadways more accommodating of mistakes. Self-driving cars are the focal point of this issue. They are anticipated to decrease accidents by 90%, resulting in safer roads for both plying vehicles and pedestrians. The roads will be free of traffic and humans can travel without steering the wheel of the car and can concentrate on other important issues. The technology will help humankind to get rid of chronic traffic that had ravaged roads for decades. The coordinated network between the control system and self-steering cars makes the transportation much smoother. It will ultimately bring down the cost of vehicle insurance as the rate of accidents will come down drastically. These autonomous vehicles supposed to run on chargeable batteries that will cut down on carbon emission in a big way.

We are living in an autonomous revolution that is poised to change the way we travel. While still in its early stage, autonomous car technology has the potential to revolutionize not only how people operate vehicles, but our entire transportation system. In turn, this could fundamentally transform our economy, environment, and society for good.