Full Self Driving Vehicles

I personally would want to own a full self-driving vehicle. It would save me a lot of time. Just jump in the back and say “Vehicle, take me to work” and the engine roars to life and prompts me to fasten my seatbelt. As soon as I put my seatbelt on the car confirms my destination and drives off. As it navigates on the road, I am busy checking my mail and reading an online newspaper. Upon arrival the car goes straight into the parking lot and self-parks in my spot. I jump out to start another awesome day at work. That would really be a sweet life. I would pay for such convenience.  A self- driving car, also known as an Autonomous Vehicle (AV), is a vehicle that has the capability to sense its environment and move safely with little or no human input.

According to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), there are 6 levels of vehicle autonomy. These levels range from level 0 (fully manual) to level 5 (fully autonomous). Level 0 is the current state of most vehicles driving on the road today as the driving task is handled by a human. Level 1 is the lowest level of automation where the vehicle features a single automated system for driver assistance such as steering or accelerating (cruise control). Level 2 refers to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as Tesla Autopilot and Cadillac Super cruise Systems.  At level 2, the vehicle can control both steering and acceleration/deceleration. Level 3 vehicles feature environment detection capabilities and can make informed decisions for themselves such as accelerating past a slow moving vehicle but they still require human override. With level 3, the driver has to remain alert and ready to assume control in the event the system has failed to execute the task. Level 4 vehicles can operate in self driving mode. Unlike level 3, level 4 vehicles can intervene in the event of a system failure without requiring human input in most cases. Level 5 vehicles are fully self-driving. They won’t even need steering wheels or acceleration/ breaking pedals.

Autonomous Vehicles employ the use of different sensors in order to perceive their surroundings. Camera sensors allow for the collection of surrounding images for interpretation by onboard software. Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors can estimate the distance between obstacles whilst Radar (Radio detection and ranging) sensors can give a determination of speed and distance. Infrared sensors are employed to identify and track objects that are hard to detect in low lighting conditions. A Global Positioning System (GPS) is used to localize the vehicle using satellite triangulation with a near accuracy of several meters. Odometry sensors that use wheel speed to determine how much the vehicle travels are also fitted in an AV. There are also ultrasonic sensors that are used for vehicle applications such as parking assistants (park assist) and inertial navigation systems that use accelerometers alongside gyroscopes to estimate vehicle position, orientation and speed.

All the sensor data is fed onto the onboard computer for processing. The current challenge with achieving Full Self driving (FSD) is not the hardware. It’s the software that requires a lot of research and experimentation before it can be rolled out as production ready without putting the lives of passengers at risk. Experts in the auto industry say because of this complexity of the software required, it may take more than a decade to fully reach FSD capability. Some of the companies involved in the development of FSD technology are:

• Waymo
• Tesla
• Cruise
• Zoox
• Aurora
• Argo
• Motional

Currently, Full Self Driving technology is not available on the market. We are just not there yet. What is available on now is driver assist technology which requires the driver to be fully alert with their hands on the wheel. Do not develop an over reliance on self-driving systems as this may result in accidents However, when FSD arrives its applications  could range from personal self-driving vehicles, shared robo taxis to long-distance trucking.