February 23, 2018
There are a large majority of people around the world, who find driving to be a traumatic experience to say the least. The extent of people’s anxiety when driving has been illustrated in an article by The Sun, which stated that over 2,000 accidents a year are caused by driving too cautiously, one of the main reasons being hesitating at roundabouts. This is on top of all the other accidents that occur on the road,contributed to over 20,000 killed or seriously injured between June 2016 and June 2017.
As a society we heavily rely on our vehicles to get us from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ everyday, so what can we do to prevent these accidents occurring?
Well thanks to the latest tech innovations, experts have come up with a design that will change the way we drive for the better.The most recent transportation pioneers have tapped into the urban transportation market, and have developed a range of services, one of the most popular ones we know today is Uber. For those who might not fully understand the concept of Uber, it is a carpooling system which has captured the hearts and minds of city-dwellers across the world. However experts in the field have taken things one step further. Whilst Uber increases the amount of people to a car, the latest revolutionary mode of transport subtracts the amount of people in the vehicle. The Autonomous car (also known as the Self-Driving car) eliminates the need of a driver, and functions through IoT, which is an advanced technology known as ‘Internet of Things’, and also AI (Artificial Intelligence) which helps make decisions for the course of the car’s journey.This therefore eliminates the possibility of road accidents.
Artificial Intelligence will be able to understand the speed limits via GPS so will be programmed to never to go above that limit. Equally AI won’t hesitate at a junction or roundabout either as it will be able to predict methodically when to go. Removing human error automatically makes roads safer, and also more efficient especially in relation to traffic jams. By eliminating the possibilities of vehicle collisions, it’s likely that traffic jams will be dramatically reduced by at least 50% if not more. Whilst the technology used is complex there are several companies that have already made the autonomous car,and are vigorously putting it through trials and testing to make it perfect.
The earliest concept was a design by Leonardo Da Vinci with his ‘Self-Propelled Cart’,and 500 years later, the powerful and influential car companies of modern society such as Nissan, Tesla and even internet giant Google are now all competing to produce self-driving cars. Volkswagen has recently participated in this self-driving car arms race, that these Trans National Corporations (TNCs) have found themselves in. Volkswagen’s ‘ID Vizzion’ is a sleek looking car with a trivial name, but those aren’t just its main USP’s. The car lacks a steering wheel making it different from the self-parking Volkswagen Golf model available for the general public, which could be seen as a precursor to their completely self-driving car.
So to conclude there are plenty of reasons to look forward to a future of self-driving vehicles,but the important factor to note most importantly of all, cars driven by AI would make better decisions than that of the average person.
The Sun’s statistics:
.GOV’s killed or seriously injured statistics
Volkswagen’s self-driving car concepts:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/19/17027570/volkswagen-id-vizzion-concept-car-geneva-motor-show
Other Sources:
https://www.wired.com/brandlab/2016/03/a-brief-history-of-autonomous-vehicle-technology/
http://robohub.org/how-do-self-driving-cars-work/
https://www.carkeys.co.uk/guides/5-best-self-parking-cars
