Smart Cars for Today and Futures !!

Smart Cars for Today and Futures …

The Smart car was originally designed as an economic solution to fuel efficiency and pollution, while at the same time providing a practical resolution to parking problems everywhere. Depending on the model, the two-passenger compact car is approximately eight to nine feet long, five feet tall and five feet wide. Smart cars are designed to be able to park perpendicular in a parallel parking space, allowing room for two Smart cars in one normal sized spot or driveway. Gas mileage also depends on the style and engine horsepower of the car, but typically gets 46 miles per gallon with city driving and 69 miles per gallon with highway driving. The plastic bodies of the Smart car were also made to be recyclable.

The first important thing to know is that self-driving cars are not street legal yet. While they can be driven on closed courses, these fully autonomous cars are not yet available to purchase. There is a difference between smart vehicles and autonomous vehicles; a smart car refers to its ability to connect with other devices, and to “make decisions” based on computations derived from the environment. Autonomous cars use smart technology to drive without human intervention. An autonomous car is always a smart car, but a smart car is not always an autonomous car.

Who’s doing it?

In short, everyone. Google started work on the pioneering technology about eight years ago, helped by expert recruits from Stanford, but Uber, China’s Baidu and even Apple – if you believe the rumours – are working on self-driving technology.

The automotive manufacturers aren’t sitting on their hands either. Elon Musk’s Tesla is working on the technology for its electric cars, while GM, Daimler, Volvo, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Audi and BMW are also developing solutions.

What’s required to make a self-driving car work?

The bulk of the technology required for self-driving cars is not all that futuristic, but it is the combination of different sensors with advanced computer vision systems that makes it work.

Many of the vehicles use what is called Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) – a rotating laser, usually mounted on the roof, that continually scans the environment around the car. Traditional radar is also used for detecting distances to objects and cars, as are various cameras, accelerators, gyroscopes and GPS, which are all used in conjunction to build a 3D picture of the environment around the vehicle.

The most complex part of a self-driving system is the software that collects the data, analyses it and actually drives the vehicle. It has to be capable of recognising and differentiating between cars, bikes, people, animals and other objects as well as the road surface, where the car is in relation to built-in maps and be able to react to an often unpredictable environment.

How it drives?

Our self-driving cars are designed to navigate safely through city streets.

They have sensors designed to detect objects as far as two football fields away in all directions, including pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles—or even fluttering plastic shopping bags and rogue birds. The software processes all the information to help the car safely navigate the road without getting tired or distracted.

Where am I?

The car processes both map and sensor information to determine where it is in the world. Our car knows what street it's on and which lane it's in.

What’s around me?

Sensors help detect objects all around us. The software classifies objects based on their size, shape and movement pattern. It detects a cyclist and a pedestrian in this case.

What will happen next?

The software predicts what all the objects around us might do next. It predicts that the cyclist will ride by and the pedestrian will cross the street.

What should I do?

The software then chooses a safe speed and trajectory for the car. Our car nudges away from the cyclist, then slows down to yield to the pedestrian.

The Challenges of Smart Cars

The single largest challenge facing autonomous and smart cars is legal liability. If a car makes a decision that saves the driver but injures another, who if anyone is responsible for those injuries? The reason that car companies are so shy of jumping head-first into smart and self-driving cars is in large part due to their legal teams’ suggestion. Until the legality of self-driving cars is final, long-standing car manufacturers are likely to avoid fully automated vehicles.

Advantages of a Smart Car ……

The advantages of Autonomous car are numerous and include:

1. The lack of human error whilst driving, will result in a much safer journey

2. Due to the sensors on the Autonomous car, they will be able to pack closer together, allowing more cars on the road and therefore shorting traffic times.

3. Disabilities would no longer be a factor in driving, meaning anyone could drive.

4. You would need less space for parking as well as the car would be able to drop you off and then find a parking space further away.

5. The average worker spend 200 hours a year commuting, an autonomous car would allow workers to spend the time on other things.

6. There would be no need to pass a driving test or gain a driving license as everyone would be able to drive.

-     Disadvantages of a Smart Car

However, there are still some disadvantages of Autonomous cars:

1. There will always be the worry of the computer crashing or malfunctioning, resulting in a major collision.

2. The lack of need for drivers would be catastrophic for the economy; in worldwide there were numbers of taxi drivers, who would all become unemployed. This would be common for all driving professions, including lorry drivers, bus drivers etc.

3. When they are first released, they are likely to be extremely expensive, and therefore most people won’t be able to afford them.

4.  Driving enthusiasts may not find the concept of self-driving car appealing, and therefore will most likely want to keep normal cars.

Who’s leading the autonomous pack?

Google is currently out in front, having driven more autonomous miles and collected more data than anyone else. But traditional car manufacturers are quickly catching up.

It’s also unclear what Google’s intentions are. The company recently partnered with Fiat Chrysler to fit its self-driving technology into the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan, but its efforts to develop a bespoke self-driving car without a steering wheel or pedals point to an intention to develop cars on its own.

Volvo has been working on self-driving technology under the guise of safety features for years, and has explored the idea of road trains for commercial vehicles, where a front lorry guides a convoy.

When are we going to be able to step into one? Smart Cars of the (Near) Future

Many experts believe that full adoption of autonomous vehicles won’t happen until 2030, but some vehicles with self-driving capabilities are expected by 2020. Whether they are legal to drive everywhere or to drive without an occupant – to pick up a passenger or park themselves – remains to be seen.