Self-driving cars are revolutionizing transportation systems as the technology matures, heralding major changes in our daily lives and the future of society. At every stage of development, this technology has the potential to improve road safety and travel efficiency, reduce traffic congestion, protect the environment, and create new industrial ecosystems.
Google, the company that wowed the world with its artificial intelligence AlphaGo, is now eyeing another technology. Self-driving cars are the stuff of science fiction movies. What are self-driving cars and why are Google, Tesla, and other giant companies jumping into this business one by one? Let’s take a look at the hottest technology right now: self-driving cars that get you to your destination faster and safer than humans.
The concept of self-driving cars was first mentioned in the 1960s. However, the technology of the time didn’t keep up with the idea, so it wasn’t until the 1990s that research began, with the development of information processing technology. Nowadays, there’s a lot of competition. With the help of advanced sensors and high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) that help cars recognize their surroundings, several tech companies are working on self-driving cars.
First, let’s take a look at where self-driving technology has been and where it’s going. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration categorizes autonomous driving technology into five main stages based on the level of driver involvement. Stage 1 is selective active control, where only a few functions are automatically operated. This is what you’ll find in cars driving around town in 2024, with features like autocruise and lane departure warnings.
Stage 2 is integrated active control, where all existing autonomous driving technologies are automatically operated in one system. At this point, we can finally call it “autonomous driving,” where the car can analyze the road conditions through sensors or radar and drive a certain section without driver intervention, and only intervene in special cases. However, the driver’s eyes remain on the road in order to deal with any unexpected situations that may arise.
Stage 3 is limited autonomy, where the vehicle recognizes traffic signals and road flow, allowing the driver to engage in other activities, such as reading, and Audi is the first commercially available self-driving car to reach this stage. However, the driver still has a role to play in limited situations.
Stage 4 is almost full autonomy, where the driver is only a passenger and the system takes over all control of the vehicle. Tesla, Google’s Waymo, and Amazon’s self-driving cars have recently demonstrated technologies that are close to this stage.
The fifth and final stage is our dream of full autonomy, where the driver is gone and the passengers are the only ones in the car. At this point, the car has a very advanced system with artificial intelligence and sensors controlling all functions. It will even have the ability to send the car where it wants to go, even if there are no passengers.
So, how does this autonomous driving work? The driver of a car driving along a straight lane sees a red light with both eyes, decides to stop with his or her head, and applies the brakes. In other words, the driver goes through three steps: perception, judgment, and control. The same is true for self-driving cars. It’s just that instead of two eyes and a brain, computers and sensors take over.
In the perception phase, the car uses GPS, cameras, radar, etc. to recognize and collect information about its surroundings. This information cannot be used alone, as the navigation GPS we currently use has an error of 10 to 30 meters, and accurate GPS information within 1 meter is required. In addition, LiDAR, which is a remote laser system that includes sound wave equipment, 3D cameras, and radar equipment, is also a major device that is equivalent to the two eyes of an autonomous vehicle.
The judgment phase determines the driving strategy based on the perceptual information it receives. It determines what environment the car is in, analyzes the images, and decides on a driving strategy that is appropriate for the driving environment and the target point.
In the control phase, the car starts driving in earnest, deciding on engine operation and driving direction. If perception is the sensory organs such as eyes and ears, and judgment is the brain, control is the arm or leg that moves the vehicle. The controls that move the vehicle are steering and acceleration and deceleration, which manipulate the steering direction, and acceleration and deceleration, which accelerate and brake the vehicle to move or stop.
An autonomous vehicle is constantly going through this “perceive, judge, and control” cycle, following the software’s commands. While the idea of a self-driving car that controls and drives itself is appealing, it also comes with its own set of problems. First and foremost, safety is of utmost importance as it is directly related to human safety, and there are also issues of liability and security to consider. As technology advances, these issues will be addressed one by one, making life easier for humans in the future.
Experts say that vehicles with some autonomous driving capabilities began to be commercialized in the mid-2020s, and as of 2024, vehicles with Level 4 autonomous driving technology are being tested. Level 5 commercialization, which is fully autonomous, is expected in the mid-2030s. With a projected 10-year timeframe for Level 4 autonomous vehicles, we could see driverless cars on the road by 2035, a time when driverless cars are the stuff of science fiction.
As the technology improves, self-driving cars will become more than just transportation, they will become a part of our lives. For example, self-driving technology, combined with the sharing economy, will help solve traffic congestion and parking problems. The commercialization of autonomous vehicles will also revolutionize logistics and delivery, allowing people to spend less time behind the wheel and more time on productive activities.
In 2023, self-driving taxi services began to be piloted in several cities, and as of 2024, they have entered the commercialization phase in some regions. This is reducing the incidence of traffic accidents and alleviating some of the traffic congestion problems.
