This past Wednesday, the state of
California granted a permit to Audi allowing them to test their automated
vehicles on the state’s roads. Beating out other car manufacturers to
California, Audi is helping to push the development and deployment of autonomous
cars on our public roads in the coming years. The introduction of this new
technology has massive implications on the future of transportation. In the
short term, driverless technologies can revolutionize the way we can get from
point A to point B in our daily lives while reducing traffic and preventing
careless accidents from occurring. Audi is specifically working on establishing
autonomous highway driving that would keep you going along with traffic,
slowing down for other vehicles in front of you, and other basic aspects of
highway driving.
Other
companies and auto manufacturers such as Google, Ford, GM, and BMW have also
been working on driverless cars for most of the past decade. Google has tested
their vehicles over 700,000 miles of road with their vehicles. Google is
attempting to create a system that would make the car fully autonomous, lately
even removing the steering wheel and accelerator from their latest test
vehicles. Their cars utilize an expansive light radar system that creates a
detailed 3D map around the car, which combined with high resolution mapping and
GPS, allow the car to navigate to its destination. The use for this kind of
navigation technology is being scrutinized by shipping companies for example.
By having a fleet of trucks automatically navigate from their source to
destination without a driver could save a company money while insuring their
goods arrive without any hindrance by the driver.
On another
end, the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been
working with numerous American automakers in introducing what they call “V-to-V”
technology. V-to-V technology is focusing on having vehicles constantly
transmitting its position and speed to all vehicles in the vicinity. Computers
in these vehicles can alert drivers to situations that require their attention.
The NHTSA states that over 30,000 fatalities occur on American roadways every
year, and with V-to-V technology, that number could be reduced by up to eighty
percent. The technology is being expanded into having the road transmit the
speed limit to the vehicle based on its current location, or communicate with
upcoming intersections and traffic lights in order to optimize the timing of
traffic light changes. The uses of this technology can be endless when it comes
to increasing the safety of passengers on their commutes every single day.
The
combination of all these technologies from numerous different organizations,
manufacturers, and government agencies could ultimately create an accident free
environment in the future. Given the rate of expansion and development of
current technologies, the future could come sooner than expected. However, I
would rather have full control over my vehicle simply due to my love of
driving. A perfect situation for me would be having the full safety bubble
around my car while still letting me enjoy the feeling of cruising down the
highway.
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