Even though many people don’t or don’t want to agree with them, autonomous cars are the future. However, building these self-driving cars is a bigger challenge than researchers initially imagined. And consumers need to realize that the cars themselves are not yet completely available, but are still in the construction phase. There are still many major differences between human decision-making and artificial intelligence that are not simple to solve. For example, the artificial intelligence driving a car needs to stop for a crossing pedestrian or a stop sign every time, with no exceptions.
There are three main factors that are important when developing autonomous cars:
It will take some time.
Currently, about $80 billion has been invested in this technology. Still, the fully autonomous cars will not ready by the end of 2018. It’s not a matter of simply throwing money at the issue. There are many time and automation levels that must be reached before a certain safety level can be ensured, because safety is the main priority, of course. So, making a car that needs no human intervention is still a few years away.
It needs to have special capabilities.
- The car needs to recognize and track objects on the road – whether a pedestrian, building, traffic lights, or a sign – the same as humans do.
- It should process gigabytes of data in a second to decide what to do with the data and make an intelligent decision.
- It should predict and anticipate moving objects and traffic in general. A pedestrian running across the road or the car in front being sideswiped are scenarios the car needs to react to.
The backend computing system needs to be developed.
The unprecedented volume and speed that is essential to make these fast decisions require enormous bandwidth capabilities and exabytes of storage. All the data that the sensors in the car gather need to be processed right away.
Image: autonomous cars will change the way how we move around today
So, we’re still not there yet. It may take more than five years before the fully autonomous car will be a common part of traffic. But it’s a multibillion-dollar industry, and companies believe that this is the future. It can save lives, and because cars should be able to drive closer together with this technology, it could also save time due to traffic jam reduction. So, it will be profitable for companies, the environment, and you. Curious to know more about our solutions? Send us an email at info@highsoftware.com or visit www.highsoftware.com