Self driving cars can drive themselves. if you think driverless cars exist only in the minds of science fiction writers, then think again. They are being tested on our roads now! Drivers are present, we assume, to take over, but road trials have been carried out on self driving cars that need no human intervention. Some claim them to be safer than regular cars because most accidents are caused by hunan error.
Self-Driving Cars
Firms such as Toyota, Audi, and Hitachi are just examples of car manufacturing and/or design companies that seem to have been looking at driverless cars. Another with its own version of the ‘driverless car’ is Google. No admission has been publicly about this, but Google seems to be looking at such vehicles. We believe them when they state that, and accept that the day will come when cars will not require drivers.
The Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System (ROPITS) is a Hitachi development that the company claims can be used by the elderly or the disabled. It is not claimed, however, to be a self-driving car. This is true of all designers of vehicles of this type. For their own reasons, perhaps legal, no manufacturer has claimed to have to built a driverless car even though they have.
The Ropits has a roof-mounted camera with a 360 degree view, and systems that can detect traffic light signals from over 150 yards away. The vehicle also knows its orientation in the road and is distance from other cars when overtaking. Even though their car might be capable of driving itself, Lexus does not claim this to be the case, but instead states that it is essential for a driver to be present at all times. The company must do this for legal reasons.
Google Driverless Cars
Google has been testing cars such as this on roads in Nevada and California. It has been doing so on public highways with good results. The position of all other vehicles in the area is established by means of radar, lasers and cameras, and navigation is facilitated by a combination of GPS and Google Maps.
Google cars have recognized the location of pedestrians, and have stopped to let them cross the road, and have also been able to recognize and respond to traffic light signals. The development of self driving cars has not yet been claimed by any auto manufacturer or designer, but it is apparent that working models have been tested on our road system.
It is believed that self-driving cars would reduce the number of annual road accidents and fatalities. This is because they work to a set of rules that are not subject to human influence or incompetence. Future car technology will be partially focused on cars that need no human drivers, but are controlled by servo motors that take signals from radar, sonar and GPS.
GPS and Self Driving Cars
It is not inconceivable that one day all cars will be fitted with GPS and their signals will be integrated to ensure that no two vehicles can occupy the same GPS coordinates. This will prevent collisions. Such systems would work via a system of motors, brakes and predictive analysis of the position of each vehicle at any specific moment in time.
Communication between self driving cars and the environment around them will enable a prediction to be made on the basis of position, direction and speed. The ultimate objective is to render it an impossibility for two vehicles to occupy the same space at the same time, and also for the same to be true of vehicles and objects such as pedestrians, trees and walls!
Self driving cars will come. And self driving cars will ultimately eliminate collisions, loss of life and insurance claims. Maybe the day will come when no car insurance is needed because there will be no collisions. Now isn’t that a nice thought!