It’s Smart It’s Safe It’s Self-Driven Cars
Veronica Morales
Schurr High School Abstract
Since the first release of cars, improvements have always been needed, such as airbags and brakes for safety reasons; however, with the latest computer technology engineers and scientist have found a way to have cars be self-driven. This removes human error, reduces accidents and releases a new way of transportation. Companies like Google have been involve in creating their own self-driven car and have actually tested them on California roadways. Through their testing, the self-driven car has performed outstanding: recognizing nearby objects and adjusting to the necessary speed and predicting other cars intentions to figure out its next move.
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(Vanderbilt 2012). In 1987, his robot car "VaMoRs" had the same equipment, but this time it had additional sensors and was able to go up to 90 kilometers per hour. Afterwards his next car, VaMP, was able to pick up images of cars and road markings at a range of about 100 meters. In a test-drive near Paris, the car drove at up at 130 kilometers per hour in traffic (Vanderbilt, 2012). These successful researches lead Carnegie Mellon University to test their own robotic car, which had a camera, portable computer and GPS. They test drove it from Pittsburg to Los Angeles and was able to drive itself 98.2% of the time (Vanderbilt, 2012).
To further the research of robotic cars, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hosted an autonomous car challenge in 2004. None of the fifteen competitors came close to 150 miles. The following year DARPA had another Grand Challenge. Twenty-three competitors had a 123-mile race in Mojave. Stanford University was able to complete the course less than 7 hours.
One of the alumni from the DARPA Grand Challenge leads the Google Driverless Car program. The cars have access to “Google Street View, cameras, LIDAR and radar to determine the car 's position on a map” (Vanderbilt, 2012).
The Technology Behind the Wheel
Self-driven cars have become more intelligent and aware of their surrounding because of our latest technology: lasers, radars, high powering cameras, sonar and software. A laser, LIDAR, is located on top of
The autonomous car has always been seen as product of the future, yet it dates back as early as the 1920s. In 1925, Houdina Radio Control introduced the first driverless car, the “Linrrican Wonder.” The car was controlled by a transmitting antenna, and a second car followed closely behind it and released radio signals that operated small electric motors within the autonomous car. The “Linrrican Wonder” was successfully able to navigate through a traffic jam in New York City without a driver. Norman Melancton Bel Geddes, an industrial designer, built upon the idea of a radio-controlled electric car in his 1939 exhibit
This vehicle requires no steering wheel, gas, or brake pedals, and already has 500,000 miles of test-driving. It includes an advanced linar, light detection and ranging, sensor system for developing detailed maps of roads it has traveled on. Google’s disadvantages as a competitor all stream from the outrageous cost of its self-driving car prototype, which is $170,000. Shashua and Aviram do not believe it could be commercialized at such a price. Also, the mapping system would involve an immense amount of driving and is extremely unrealistic on a global scale. There is also a possibility of road construction, changing roads and highways making the memory saved in the systems inaccurate for the mapping system used by Google. In addition, Shashua and Aviram believe that it is not to Google’s advantage to attempt such huge leaps into the future so soon.
In 2004 there was a long distance competition for the best self-driving vehicles in the world, but none of the vehicles that competed actually completed the 150-mile course that was created in the Mojave Desert. The next year there was another competition in which Stanford University’s self-driving vehicle finished a difficult 132-mile course in less than 7 hours. Today there is an autonomous taxi service by Uber driving through the streets of Pittsburgh. However, it is not completely self-driving because there is always a trained engineer in the driver seat who often has to take control of the vehicle (Vanderbilt).
B.4, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks-sirs.com.dcccd.idm.oclc.org. Accessed 14 Nov.2017. This article discusses the significance of road infrastructure in the success of autonomous vehicles. Self-driven vehicles are fitted with powerful computers that back up sophisticated sensors which depend on the clarity of the road markings to be picked up quickly by the computer vision gear. The leadership is itself undecided between adopting this new technology and at the same time exercise caution since it is a new idea.
Google is far from the only contender in the self-driving game. A recent report shows that Tesla Motors has an autonomous whip of their own. The Model S steered itself on a grueling 50-mile course that raced through freeways, winded through rural by-ways and handled city driving with ease. The success of the Model S was so great that reviews are calling it the clear winner among autonomous vehicles.
The first step toward driverless cars came in the 1980s, and it's still with us today: Anti-lock brakes (ABS). Google’s driverless car has got eight sensors. The most eye-grabbing is the roof-top Lidar – a camera that uses an array of 32 or 64 lasers to calculate the distance to objects to build up a 3D map at a range of 200m, letting the car "Observe" hazards.
This technology is no secret as it is being experimented by with more than just by Tesla. GM, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW, and a few others are taking on this new technology and using it to their advantage. Google has also stepped their game up and is producing their own prototypes known as “Waymo” to combat the big boys who already have a strong foundation in the motor industry. In 2012, the Google self driving car drove over 300,000 miles on its own which then gave the company enough confidence to move it onto complex city streets for testing. Eventually, in 2015, the car made it to public streets for the first time and
After its success, Google founders were convinced that autonomous vehicles were going to be the next technological breakthrough. In 2012, Google added the Lexus RX450h to the project, and the self driving cars drove more than 300,000 miles on their own on freeways with test drivers. Also in 2012, they moved to more complex cities with pedestrians, road work, cyclists, etc. Googles’ vehicles have sensors and software that can detect object/people with a distance up two football fields. Google claims that these vehicles can adjust to unexpected changes in the road such as railroad crossings, and closed lanes. These vehicles are also able to stay out of blind spots and keep a distance with larger vehicles. Google’s self driving cars include a laser, a processor, position sensors, orientation sensors, and radar.
In the past, robotic cars have been generally considered to be a science fiction.For some time people dreamed of a car that drives itself safely on the highway and city streets. While driving can often be a fun experience, I still believe that this new innovation will end congestion, reduce death toll from human driving and will reshape the city
Technology has continued to grow and advanced over time and since 1920 people have begun to envision and research the possibility of a self-driving car. Autonomous cars are no longer a simply an idea for the future with current technologies we are very close to having consumer product available. Now the question is are autonomous cars going to be safe for the road. With new technology being developed and refined many company have begun to design their own versions of autonomous cars. Based on the huge backing of companies combined with possibilities of modern day sensors, computers, and programming languages, it is accurate to say that autonomous cars will be more than safe use in the general public. Strong focus will be given to Google and the efforts to bring this concept to fruition. The Google car is focused on safety and functionality over appearance and luxurious aspects. They have already be road tested and haven proven they can perform if put up to the test. Autonomous should continue to evolve and become part of everyday life.
In 2010, Google broadcasted that they created an archetype of a car that can drive itself; its purpose, to avert collisions, allow citizens more time, and cut down on harmful pollutants that vehicles produce (Poczter & Jankovic, 2014). The heart of the self-driving automobile is lasers that are mounted on the roof of a modified Toyota Prius that produces a precise three-dimensional atlas of the area surrounding the car. Furthermore, the automobile is outfitted with four radars, and another laser around the vehicle that allows it to precisely create a 3-D map of its surroundings (Poczter & Jankovic, 2014). The vehicle calculates the laser dimensions with high-resolution maps of the globe, which allows it
In the past several years, companies like Google and Tesla have been working towards the self-driving, autonomous vehicle. Many project that in a mere four years, “most major automotive companies will have developed successful driverless technology” (Access Science Editors). The implementation of this technology clearly has many benefits but, we cannot mistakenly believe that improvement means perfection. Technology is a process and with each improvement, more and more people will be drawn in making this technology more ubiquitous. Each step gives rise to another, but
The first idea of self-driving cars dates back to 1939, when the vision was debuted by General Motors, at a sponsored exhibit at the World’s Fair in New York. The autonomous car was shown as part of a display called “Futurama”. Part of this display included automated highways and expressways, but the exhibit also had the idea of self-driving cars. Even though the designer Norman Bel Geddes had these ideas then, working prototypes would not be seen for another 40 years.
Since 95% of road accident happen due to human error, this self-driving car can prevent major accidents on the road. This google cars can also reduce the amount of time used waiting for traffic clearance. This saves you a lot of time, beside the lives of others. These Google cars will have data about the roads and the surrounding. When it is driven, it will be able to detect any changes (like pedestrians crossing the road), analyze it and make a proper response (stopping to let the pedestrian cross). Even though this seems kind of impossible for now, you can except this to be in the showroom in the next few decades, and it will surely make a great cocktail party conversation.
Google Self-Driving Car is the first of autonomous cars successfully made today, developed by Google X as part of its project to develop mainly electric cars. The technology in Google’s cars is named Google Chauffeur. The project was led by Sebastian Thrun, former director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and co-inventor of Google Street View. Thrun 's team at Stanford created the first self-driving vehicle named Stanley, which was the only car that won the 2005 DARPA Challenge, a $2 million prize from the United States Department of Defense. There were 15 engineers working on this project for Google, including Chris Urmson, Mike Montemerlo, and Anthony Levandowski who had worked on the DARPA Grand and Urban