Self-driving cars have the potential to increase transportation efficiency and reduce accidents thanks to advances in technology to recognize and control their surroundings. Several companies, including Google and Volvo, are leading the way, and South Korea is actively involved in developing the technology. While the commercialization of autonomous vehicles still faces legal and societal challenges, they will be a revolutionary form of transportation in the future.
An autonomous vehicle, or driverless car, is a car that automatically finds its way to a destination without human assistance. With autonomous cars, drivers are no longer needed. People will be freed from the drudgery of manual driving and will be able to spend more time in the car. Autonomous driving is expected to greatly improve traffic efficiency on the roads and reduce traffic accidents because the car is aware of its surroundings and controls the car on its own. Of course, there are concerns that automated cars could be hacked, or that liability issues between humans and cars could arise in the event of an accident. However, autonomous vehicle technology is developing very rapidly thanks to advances in advanced engineering technologies such as computer science and electronic control, so the era of autonomous driving seems inevitable. With the recent success of autonomous driving between the European and Asian continents and autonomous driving in urban centers, it is expected that autonomous vehicles will become commonplace in the not-too-distant future.
The development of self-driving cars hasn’t been around for long. In the 1980s, the University of Munich in Germany succeeded in driving a driverless car up to 100 kilometers per hour, and the European Union began researching driverless cars with the Eureka Prometheus project from 1987 to 1995. Since then, various companies and universities have succeeded in driving autonomous cars farther and faster, mainly on highways with relatively few unexpected turns. In 2010, they successfully drove 13,000 kilometers from Italy to Shanghai, China, and more recently, they have been able to drive autonomously in highly complex environments such as urban centers. It is in this area in particular that Google is leading the way and has developed a significant number of driverless cars.
The development of autonomous vehicles requires advanced sensor and software technologies to accurately recognize the situation around the car, make judgments, and control the car appropriately. First of all, the most core technology is to accurately recognize the driving situation, i.e., to grasp the surrounding spatial information such as the distance and size of various objects or obstacles that appear while driving. This is done with the help of advanced sensors, cameras, and radar technology. If you’re driving in a city center, you’ll need to read lanes, signs, and other information, so you’ll also need sophisticated image processing technology.
The ability to accurately measure the vehicle’s position and attitude is also crucial. The absolute position of the vehicle must be determined with a very small error of centimeters or less, which requires the use of satellite signals and other spatial information from the surrounding area. Research into communication methods that allow cars to communicate with each other is also key. Autonomous driving requires a variety of complex and advanced technologies to precisely determine the vehicle’s position in relation to the complex real-world space around it, and to process and control this enormous amount of information.
Currently, Google is considered the most advanced company in the development of autonomous vehicles. Google has been developing self-driving cars under the leadership of Stanford University professor Sebastian Thrun, who won the grand prize in a self-driving car competition organized by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2005. Google’s big data, Street View, and other technologies have been combined to create a self-driving car that is growing rapidly. In 2010, the company successfully drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles, a total distance of 224,000 kilometers. In recognition of these results, in 2011, Nevada became the first state in the world to allow self-driving cars on public roads. As the 2020s progressed, more and more states and countries allowed autonomous vehicles to drive on public roads. In 2023, fully autonomous taxi services became commercially available in California, and autonomous shuttle buses began operating in several major cities. In addition, many countries in Europe and Asia are rapidly developing the regulations and infrastructure for the commercialization of autonomous vehicles, bringing them closer to becoming commonplace.
Volvo, a European automaker, is developing a somewhat unusual form of autonomous driving technology called pack driving. In this method, the lead car at the front of the pack is manned by a human driver. The cars behind it automatically follow the same route, keeping a certain distance from the car in front of them. Vehicles that have joined the group can leave the group at any time, or request to join the group of another lead vehicle. Drivers can see where the leading vehicles are headed and join a group with similar destinations, freeing them from the hassle of manual driving.
Self-driving cars are also being developed in Korea. The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has developed ESTRO, an autonomous electric vehicle. The car drives itself by receiving information from sensors installed on the road and sending it to a centralized computer. Autonomous driving is also being researched at universities such as the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Kookmin University, and Korea University of Education and Technology. In November 2010, Hyundai Motor Company succeeded in driving a self-driving car for 4 kilometers with functions such as lane departure prevention, stopping before a crosswalk, obstacle avoidance, and passing through a narrow tunnel.
Autonomous vehicle technology is improving by leaps and bounds every year. While most of the technical issues are expected to be solved gradually, there are some social and legal concerns about autonomous driving. For one thing, the liability for accidents becomes unclear in the event of an accident. Since passengers are no longer required to drive, it can be difficult to determine who is at fault: the human, the computer, or the passenger and the manufacturer. Also, since driving is no longer in the hands of a human, it is now in the hands of a computer, which can cause serious damage from hacking. Hacking can also lead to criminalization, in which case fault becomes unclear. There is also resistance from the transportation industry (taxis, buses, etc.) and insurance companies, which must be resolved before self-driving cars are commercialized. Alongside this social debate, there is a need to understand and empathize with the various benefits of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to reduce traffic congestion, reduce driver fatigue, and significantly improve safety on the road. As more countries adopt autonomous vehicles and the technology matures, these benefits are expected to become increasingly realized.
There is still a long way to go for autonomous vehicles, as they still need to be fully tested for safety, and infrastructure such as suitable road conditions must be in place. However, as the technical issues are being resolved, it is inevitable that self-driving cars will become commonplace. We need to think about some of the issues that are being raised about autonomous vehicles from a social perspective and prepare for the new era. Just like in the movies, there will come a time when we will no longer have to drive hard, but simply hop in the car and go wherever we want at our convenience. As self-driving cars become more and more integrated into our daily lives, the excitement for the positive changes this technology will bring and the future it will enable will only grow.
