What to Expect Next in Self-dDriving Cars?

Imagine you were in the driver’s seat, watching your favorite movie, while your car moved around, changed gears, and applied the brakes all by itself! Yes, self-driving cars or autonomous Cars make that possible! With driverless cars, there is no need for you to constantly keep your eyes on the road. The autonomous car technology ensures that your car moves past other vehicles on its own. For instance, the LIDAR technology that offers 360-degree views to the car allows drivers to relax in the driver’s seat. You will only have to occasionally monitor the car to get to your preferred destination. 

According to experts, self-driving cars have the potential to revolutionize the transportation industry in the near future. Leading automakers, including Waymo, General Motors, Tesla, and Volkswagen, have already tested their self-driving cars on busy roads. They are also looking to improve their autonomous car software and make driverless cars the norm in the future. So, what can we really expect next in self-driving cars? Continue reading to find out more. 

Different Levels of Automation

There are many levels to the autonomous car technology. For instance, level one automation cars perform a few acceleration and steering tasks. On the other hand, level two autonomous cars come with advanced cruise control capabilities.

Similarly, level three autonomous cars allow the driver to apply a few safety-based functions to them. However, the level 4 autonomous cars drive on their own without the need for human drivers. They are usually programmed not to run in unmapped locations. Lastly, we have level 5 autonomous cars that are fully automated and operate under all types of conditions.

What Does the Future Hold?

As far as the future is concerned, a good number of people won’t invest in their own cars. Instead, they will resort to subscription-based services with companies such as Uber and pay the requisite amount to have self-driving cars delivered right at their doorstep. Driverless cars will also prove useful in minimizing the number of accidents that take place on busy roads every year. Industry insiders also believe that automakers that produce the most advanced self-driving cars are likely to perform really well. A lot of investment and research has currently been made in this particular segment. In fact, one can expect as many as ten million autonomous cars on the roads before the year 2020 comes to an end.

What Are Automakers Planning?

As far as the leading auto companies are concerned, they are very serious about their self-driving car projects.

General Motors 

General Motors had invested 581 million dollars in acquiring Cruise Automation, a start-up focused on designing autonomous cars. The company also set up an R&D facility to achieve new breakthroughs in self-driving technology. It must be noted that the company hasn’t announced any specific date for launching its driverless cars. But they have plans to mass-produce self-driving cars in the next couple of months. The company has also spent around 500 million dollars to own a 9% stake in a ride services providing company, Lyft. With this move, it plans to establish a strong network of autonomous cars that would be available upon request.

Ford

Ford is another company that plans to introduce their autonomous cars by the year 2021. The company has already invested around one billion dollars in the leading robotics organization, Argo AI. Besides, they will combine their own autonomous car technology to design cars that will be used by ride-providing apps. In fact, the company plans to create autonomous cars with no steering wheels or gas pedals. The cars will also not require any control in pre-defined areas by 2021.

Honda

Honda, on the other hand, disclosed that it is planning to use Waymo (Designed by Google) autonomous technology for developing their driverless cars. The company would also run them on the highway by the year 2020. In the past 5 years, the company has invested one billion dollars every year to develop AI and robotics technology at its Toyota Research Institute.

Other companies that have also made investments in the R&D of autonomous technology include Renault, Volvo, Hyundai, Tesla, and BMW.

Conclusion

Given the above scenario, it won’t be a surprise if you notice more self-driving cars on roads in the near future. People will also be dumping their own cars in favor of autonomous cars. Instead, they will use ride booking apps to have their self-driving cars delivered, as and when required by them.